The Huila Pink Bourbon is here

Last April, when David and I were in Colombia, we cupped twenty-three samples in three days at the FNC cupping lab outside Manizales. The Pink Bourbon from a small co-op outside Pitalito stood out. It scored an 88.5 on the Q form — and more importantly it tasted, to both of us, like exactly the kind of bright, juicy, structured coffee we wanted to have on the shelf this winter.

Pink Bourbon is a rare cultivar — a natural mutation of red and yellow Bourbon, with a pink-blushed cherry at peak ripeness. The genetics are still being studied. What we know in the cup is that it tends toward red-fruit sweetness, vivid acidity, and a clean, long finish.

Our lot is a fully washed processing, with a 36-hour dry fermentation and 18 days on raised beds. The traceability is exact: Finca La Tortuga, lot 14, harvested October 2024, exported via Caravela. We paid $5.80 per pound green, F.O.B. — well above the current C-market.

On the bar, we're brewing it as a V60 for now: 22 g coffee, 360 g water, 96°C, three minutes flat. Tasting notes from the team's blind cup: red apple, raspberry, vanilla, brown sugar. It's a small lot — about 180 pounds — so when it's gone it's gone.