Colombia La Argentina Pink Bourbon Honey
$24.00 – $112.00
The lot is the work of four farming families living in the vicinity of La Argentina in Huila, in coordination with a producer named Eduardo Armero. Eduardo is an expert cupper and second generation farmer with an eye toward experimentation, who provided the processing guidelines for the lot. Eduardo coordinated the dry milling, and the coffee was exported by the FNC—Colombia’s national coffee association—who Eduardo also works closely with. It’s a unique way of creating a microlot, but allows smaller producers to contribute coffee to a larger, exportable-sized coffee lot, or to learn a new coffee process in a lower-risk way (by not having to put all of their proverbial eggs in one basket), or to generate additional income through the specialized processing of a portion of their coffee, or as we have here, all three.
The dry grounds are unique, in that they have a toasty sweetness—think chocolate chip cookie—while also hinting at a yellow and pink top end quality. It’s often the case that pink bourbon manifests “pink” qualities in the cup, and while I’m sure some of it is just the power of suggestion, we’ve cupped (and roasted) enough of them know the pink qualities are usually there. In this example, the dry fragrance is a little more muted, but I still find a little bit of bubble gum and lemonade.
At the “break” in our cupping bowls—what we call the act of breaking the wet crust that forms when you pour water over grounds in a container, as you get in a French press—my nose was greeted by a big burst of spice: not baking, but green. Something along the lines of basil, or maybe white pepper. It was intriguing, especially when paired with the sugars and emerging fruits unlocked by the addition of water. And finally, the liquid itself: yum! This is the kind of coffee I can drink all day, every day. It’s crispy and bright, with a linear structure (that basil/spice/pepper/green tea tannin thing), along with lots of nuanced and clean (as opposed to pulpy) fruit flavors. There are pink notes, like lemonade and guava and lychee, and some green components—lime and melon. And the sugars tend toward clear, as opposed to browned. Tasting it blind, you might think it was an Ethiopian coffee, and in some ways, you’d be right. But it also has, to me, a very clear Colombian coffee identity, in its sugar browning sweetness and tannic structure. It’s not outlandish, or an example of gilding the lily, despite its complicated processing. Rather, it seems to me to taste just as it should.
Location: huila
Elevation: 1800 MASL
Varietal: pink bourbon
Process: double dry fermentation honey process
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The lot is the work of four farming families living in the vicinity of La Argentina in Huila, in coordination with a producer named Eduardo Armero. Eduardo is an expert cupper and second generation farmer with an eye toward experimentation, who provided the processing guidelines for the lot. Eduardo coordinated the dry milling, and the coffee was exported by the FNC—Colombia’s national coffee association—who Eduardo also works closely with. It’s a unique way of creating a microlot, but allows smaller producers to contribute coffee to a larger, exportable-sized coffee lot, or to learn a new coffee process in a lower-risk way (by not having to put all of their proverbial eggs in one basket), or to generate additional income through the specialized processing of a portion of their coffee, or as we have here, all three.
The dry grounds are unique, in that they have a toasty sweetness—think chocolate chip cookie—while also hinting at a yellow and pink top end quality. It’s often the case that pink bourbon manifests “pink” qualities in the cup, and while I’m sure some of it is just the power of suggestion, we’ve cupped (and roasted) enough of them know the pink qualities are usually there. In this example, the dry fragrance is a little more muted, but I still find a little bit of bubble gum and lemonade.
At the “break” in our cupping bowls—what we call the act of breaking the wet crust that forms when you pour water over grounds in a container, as you get in a French press—my nose was greeted by a big burst of spice: not baking, but green. Something along the lines of basil, or maybe white pepper. It was intriguing, especially when paired with the sugars and emerging fruits unlocked by the addition of water. And finally, the liquid itself: yum! This is the kind of coffee I can drink all day, every day. It’s crispy and bright, with a linear structure (that basil/spice/pepper/green tea tannin thing), along with lots of nuanced and clean (as opposed to pulpy) fruit flavors. There are pink notes, like lemonade and guava and lychee, and some green components—lime and melon. And the sugars tend toward clear, as opposed to browned. Tasting it blind, you might think it was an Ethiopian coffee, and in some ways, you’d be right. But it also has, to me, a very clear Colombian coffee identity, in its sugar browning sweetness and tannic structure. It’s not outlandish, or an example of gilding the lily, despite its complicated processing. Rather, it seems to me to taste just as it should.
Location: huila
Elevation: 1800 MASL
Varietal: pink bourbon
Process: double dry fermentation honey process