Family-Owned Colombian Coffee Shop Opens Doors Soon In Morristown

MORRISTOWN, NJ — A family of coffee aficionados will open their second shop in Morristown, with beans grown and harvested in the mountains of Colombia.

As Patch's Alexis Tarrazi reported, Natalie Ramirez Porras and her family opened the first Rey Sol Coffee location in Ridgewood in 2020.

They are now getting ready to open their second location at 140 Morris St. in Morristown later this month, and posted a video on Facebook several weeks ago of the progress. Patch has reached out to ask about the official opening date.

Porras is a senior at Ridge High School in Somerset County, and her family has been growing and harvesting coffee beans for six generations.

"We grew up around coffee. When I was younger, one of the first words I knew was 'coffee'," said Porras to Patch. "We are very passionate about it."

While their Ridgewood shop has only been open for almost 4 years, their family's passion and dedication to the artistry of growing and roasting 100 percent single-origin, microlot Colombian beans have been a part of their lives for much longer.

In 1966, Porra's father Arley "Gazapera" Ramirez took over Rey Sol Coffee Farms in Balboa Risaralda, Colombia, and has dedicated his life to coffee since then.

Porras and her sister Linda Valentina Ramirez became more involved in the farm several years ago and helped sell their coffee beans to friends and then online, before eventually opening their first shop in August 2020.

The sisters' goal is to help their dad continue his legacy of bringing Alto del Rey's mountain coffee to the area through Rey Sol Coffee shops.

Rey Sol Coffee offers a variety of light and medium roasts. Their main barista Jorge is nationally known in Colombia for his note-tasting. He has helped to create coffee mixtures that are infused with ingredients such as whiskey, rum, Portovino, and more.

"We put the beans in a barrel for five months and it just sits there and saturates," said Porras. "After the roasting process the alcohol percentage that was once soaked within the bean literally gets burnt off. Yet the notes/flavor of the coffee beans stay making it delicious for all to try and consume."

Ramirez is the farmer, Porras handles marketing and social media, her sister is the manager, and their mother Johanna Porras oversees everything.

"We are farmers," said Porras. "We harvest the beans and export them here. We grind them and brew them in-house. Everything we do, we always come back to it being ingrained in our family story."

While the family is passionate about coffee farming, Porras said they are more passionate about sharing their Latin culture.

"It's not just about the coffee but about bringing that community together," said Porras, who said she plans to continue the family business after she graduates.

"Since opening Rey Sol Coffee when I was 13 it switched my life around in a way I never would've imagined," Porras continued. "I love coffee, the community that it brings and also breaking language barriers... You don't have to speak the same language but just by drinking coffee you find each other together."

For more information on Rey Sol Coffee visit reysolcoffee.com or follow instagram.com/reysolcoffee or facebook.com/reysolcoffee.

Patch's Alexis Tarrazi contributed to this report.