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Characteristics, Flavor, Development Story, and Price of Colombian Pink Bourbon Coffee Beans - Roasting and Brewing Recommendations

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/27, For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style). Before introducing Pink Bourbon, let me briefly explain what Bourbon coffee is (here I'm borrowing Baidu's introduction). Bourbon coffee (French: Café Bourbon) is a

Among FrontStreet Coffee's supply bean series, there is a FrontStreet Coffee Colombian Huilan coffee bean that represents the most classic coffee flavor profile of Colombia (rich nuts, chocolate, excellent sweetness). It is precisely because of the rich and mellow flavor of FrontStreet Coffee's Colombian coffee beans that they are often used as blending ingredients for espresso coffee. Several of FrontStreet Coffee's own house-roasted FrontStreet Coffee espresso blends contain Colombian coffee beans, producing well-balanced and full-bodied flavors when making espresso or other coffee beverages. However, Colombia has a FrontStreet Coffee Pink Bourbon coffee bean that features delicate berry acidity. Although not the classic flavor profile of Colombian coffee regions, its rarity as a variety and the pleasure of its flavor make this high-quality coffee bean hard to ignore.

FrontStreet Coffee Colombian Coffee

Colombia is located in the northwest of the South American continent, bordering Panama in Central America. In 1808, a priest first introduced coffee to Colombia from the French Antilles via Venezuela. Today, Colombia is the world's third-largest coffee exporting country, primarily producing Arabica coffee beans, and is also the country that exports the most Arabica coffee beans. Colombia is rich in natural resources, with coffee, flowers, gold, and emeralds known as the "four treasures."

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Colombian Coffee Production Regions

Colombia's specialty bean production regions are mainly in the south, with altitudes above 1,500 meters, including San Augustin in Huila Province, Popayan in Cauca Province, Nariño Province, and Tolima Province.

From north to south, Colombia's main production regions include:

Santander and North of Santander: Located in northern Colombia, west of the Magdalena River, with cultivation altitudes of about 1,400-1,600 meters. Coffee beans from this region are known for their intense flavors, long aftertaste, and unique fresh herbal notes.

Antioquia: Located in north-central Colombia, with 126,000 hectares of coffee cultivation, producing coffee beans that account for 18% of Colombia's production, second only to Huila Province. Most of this province consists of high mountain terrain belonging to the Andes Mountains, but it is influenced by the warm Caribbean sea breeze. The provincial capital Medellin is Colombia's second-largest city and also an important coffee production region.

Tolima: Bordering Huila and Cauca provinces, the Andes Mountains and Cordillera Mountains run north-south through this area, with the Magdalena River flowing between these two famous mountain systems.

Huila Province: Located in the southern part of Colombia's central mountain range, it is the country's most famous specialty coffee production region. This area consists of hills surrounded by mountains, with cultivation altitudes above 1,500 meters. The most important rivers in Colombia converge here, bringing abundant water resources and moisture.

Cauca Province: A Colombian coffee origin certification region with an average altitude of 1,758m, with the highest altitude reaching up to 2,100m. The region's topography, precipitation, temperature, and volcanic soil create suitable conditions for coffee growth. 80% of the area is mountainous, with parallel mountain systems in the eastern and central parts that are part of the Andes Mountains, including two main volcanoes, Sotara and Petacas, in the central mountain system.

Nariño: Bordering the Pacific Ocean to the west and Ecuador to the south, the Andes Mountains traverse this province, with many rivers passing through this area flowing southward. It belongs to Colombia's high-altitude coffee cultivation region and has nurtured many specialty coffee smallholders. Nariño was also Colombia's first coffee production region named after its origin.

Colombian Coffee Bean Varieties

In addition to common varieties in American production regions such as Caturra, Bourbon, Typica, and Pacamara, Colombia also has three unique disease-resistant varieties: Castillo, Tabi, and the Colombia variety (named after the country). Of course, there are also some rare and precious varieties like Gesha, small-grained Mocca, Rume Sudan, Eugenioides, Laurina, Maragesa, and Pink Bourbon.

Today, FrontStreet Coffee will mainly discuss Pink Bourbon. Pink Bourbon was developed through hybridization of Red Bourbon and Yellow Bourbon. Pink Bourbon was first planted in the Huila production region. Initially, it was mixed with other Bourbon and Caturra varieties, but later it was harvested and processed separately. When coffee cherries mature, they display a romantic pink color. However, maintaining this pink color is extremely difficult because the final color of coffee fruit is determined by recessive genes in the pollen grains. The pollen grains used for hybridization contain both yellow genes leaning toward Yellow Bourbon and red genes leaning toward Red Bourbon, all of which are recessive genes that easily interfere with each other, making Pink Bourbon a very rare variety.

Colombian Coffee Bean Processing Methods

Colombian coffee beans are mainly processed using the washed method. Friends who frequently purchase FrontStreet Coffee's supply bean series know that most of FrontStreet Coffee's supply bean series uses the washed processing method because the washed processing method represents the basic flavor of a production region and is the starting point for understanding regional flavor characteristics. Compared to natural processing, the washed method provides better control over coffee bean quality, mainly because it washes the coffee to slow down the "fermentation" process. Since it requires large amounts of water, the washed processing method is less commonly seen in countries with water scarcity.

Washed Method

1. Bean Selection: Place harvested fruits in large water tanks. Ripe fruits will sink, while unripe or overripe fruits will float on the surface.

2. Pulp Removal: Use machines to remove the skin and pulp, leaving only coffee beans wrapped in mucilage. The washing process is designed to clean this layer of mucilage.

3. Fermentation: Mucilage has strong adhesion and is not easy to remove. It must be placed in tanks for about 18-36 hours, using microorganisms to ferment and decompose the mucilage.

4. Washing: Place the fermented beans in water pools and rinse them back and forth, using the friction between beans and water flow to wash the coffee beans clean.

5. Drying: After washing, the coffee beans' moisture content reaches 50%. They must be dried to reduce the moisture content to 12%, otherwise they will become moldy and spoiled due to excessive moisture content. The best processing method is sun-drying, which takes 1-3 weeks but produces excellent flavor. Some places use machine drying, which significantly reduces processing time, but the flavor is relatively inferior to sun-dried coffee beans.

6. Hulling: After drying is complete, the coffee beans are stored in a warehouse for a week (to stabilize moisture content) before being sent to the factory for hulling to remove the parchment layer.

7. Selection and Grading: Remove defective beans and ensure optimal quality, then deliver them to exporters for sale worldwide.

FrontStreet Coffee Colombian Washed Pink Bourbon Coffee Beans (Green)

Derived from the washed method are semi-washed and anaerobic washed processing. FrontStreet Coffee will introduce three Colombian Pink Bourbon coffee beans below, each using washed, semi-washed, and anaerobic washed processing methods respectively.

Semi-Washed Method

Semi-washed is an improved processing method that reduces water consumption compared to traditional washed processing. The initial steps of screening floating beans and removing pulp are consistent with the washed method, but the mucilage removal step is done directly by machine scraping, eliminating the water soaking fermentation and washing rinsing processes. The drying process is natural sun-drying or mechanical drying to 12% moisture content. Semi-washed bean flavor falls between natural and washed beans - not as acidic as washed beans, not as sweet as natural beans.

FrontStreet Coffee Colombian Semi-Washed Pink Bourbon Coffee Beans (Green)

Anaerobic Washed Method

Coffee beans are fermented in oxygen-free containers. After ripe coffee cherries are harvested, they undergo 12 hours of dry fermentation directly in polypropylene woven bags. After this step, the coffee is depulped and prepared for its second round of fermentation.

In the second round, the coffee beans ferment in an anaerobic environment for 24 hours. The coffee beans are transferred to plastic containers and sealed for fermentation to prevent oxygen circulation. After these two steps, the coffee beans are slowly dried on drying beds for 20 to 25 days until the moisture content drops to between 10% and 12%.

Anaerobic processing is also extremely challenging for processors because it's easy to over-ferment, which can make the coffee taste more like vinegar than fruit.

FrontStreet Coffee Colombian Anaerobic Washed Pink Bourbon Coffee Beans (Green)

FrontStreet Coffee Washed Pink Bourbon Coffee Beans

FrontStreet Coffee Colombian Paraiso Estate Washed Pink Bourbon Coffee Beans

Region: Cauca

Altitude: 1930m

Variety: Pink Bourbon

Processing: Washed

Flavor: Floral, citrus, lemon, cocoa, caramel, roasted almonds, tea-like

Roasting Analysis

Brewing Suggestions

FrontStreet Coffee's specific brewing parameters are: V60 dripper, water temperature 90°C, water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, coffee amount 15 grams, grind size (80% pass-through rate with China #20 standard sieve).

FrontStreet Coffee uses segmented extraction. The bloom water amount is twice the coffee powder amount, i.e., 30 grams of water for 30 seconds of blooming. After small水流绕圈注水至125克后分段, when the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring water to 225 grams and stop. The entire extraction time is 2 minutes.