What are Pink Bourbon Coffee Beans? Huila Region Columbia Coffee Flavor Characteristics and Brewing Stories

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Pink Bourbon is a very rare coffee variety originating from Colombia. FrontStreet Coffee's Pink Bourbon comes from the Huila region, which is one of the world's most famous coffee-producing areas. Interestingly, this Pink Bourbon was processed using the semi-washed method rather than fully washed, so we conducted a cupping of this semi-washed processed Pink Bourbon. It has berry acidity accompanied by a delicate floral aroma, very refreshing. The unique cherry tomato flavor is very prominent, with exceptionally high honey-like sweetness and a juice-like mouthfeel that makes FrontStreet Coffee inevitably fall in love with this Pink Bourbon.

Colombia is the world's third-largest coffee exporter, primarily producing Arabica coffee, and is also the country that exports the most Arabica beans. Colombia is rich in natural resources, with coffee, flowers, gold, and emeralds being known as the "four treasures." Located in the northwest of the South American continent, Colombia borders Panama in Central America. From an aerial view, its western side looks as if it was scratched by a cat, leaving three vertical claw marks from north to south. The country's famous producing regions are scattered throughout these Andes Mountains with fertile volcanic soil.

In 1808, a priest first introduced coffee to Colombia from the French Antilles via Venezuela. Today, the country is the second-largest coffee producer after Brazil, the world's largest exporter of Arabica coffee beans, and the world's largest exporter of washed coffee beans. Colombian coffee is often described as having a silky-smooth mouthfeel. Among all coffees, it has the best balance, with a soft and smooth taste that can be enjoyed at any time. It has received praise unattainable by other coffees: it is known as "green gold."

Huila

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

Contrary to the general impression of balanced and smooth Colombian commercial coffee, many small-farm micro-batch produced Colombian specialty coffees actually have distinct regional flavor characteristics. In recent years, with the international market's emphasis on coffee quality and requirements for specialty coffee, there has been a gradual shift away from the original grading system based on bean size, instead focusing on micro-regional selections from coffee smallholders (Micro-regional selections). Dozens of small farmers contribute their individual harvests to form a micro-batch for sale, which provides more opportunities to directly select many excellent specific smallholder coffees through batch-by-batch cupping.

Pink Bourbon was first cultivated in the Huila region. Initially, it was planted mixed with other Bourbon and Caturra varieties, and later was separately harvested and processed. When ripe, the coffee cherries display a romantic pink color, but maintaining this pink color is extremely difficult because the final color of the coffee fruit is determined by recessive genes in the pollen grains. Among the pollen grains selected for hybridization, there are both yellow genes tending toward Yellow Bourbon and red genes tending toward Red Bourbon, all of which are recessive genes that easily interfere with each other. Therefore, Pink Bourbon is considered a very rare variety.

Pink Bourbon Variety

Pink Bourbon, as the name suggests, has coffee cherries that turn a romantic pink color when ripe. It belongs to a very rare new variety, cultivated by crossing Red Bourbon and Yellow Bourbon. The reason Pink Bourbon is considered a rare variety is mainly because maintaining this beautiful pink color is extremely difficult. Sometimes orange Bourbons are harvested because the final color of the coffee fruit is determined by recessive genes in the pollen grains. Among the pollen grains we selected for hybridization, there are both yellow genes tending toward Yellow Bourbon and red genes tending toward Red Bourbon, all of which are recessive genes that easily interfere with each other.

Currently, Pink Bourbon can be found in Colombia and Guatemala. Taking this batch of Pink Bourbon coffee as an example, there are approximately 1,800 coffee trees, with each tree producing about 1.8kg of fresh fruit per harvest season. After pulp removal processing, about 0.36kg of coffee beans are obtained. In a normal harvest season, the total production of this coffee is less than 650kg.

Coffee Bean Processing Method

Semi-Washed Method

Step 1: We start with harvesting. We can use manual or machine harvesting of the berries.

Step 2: This is the selection process. Manual selection of berries or selection in large water pools, with the purpose of filtering out bad fruits.

Step 3: Pulping. After harvesting, when the coffee berries are still on the farm, washing and cleaning are completed, and a small hand-operated machine is used for pulping - simply put, removing the pulp.

Step 4: Washing. The coffee beans are placed in baskets and soaked in water for 1-2 hours, then rubbed against each other to remove mucilage. Some pulp will remain on the coffee beans, which helps enhance flavor.

Step 5: Partial drying. The washed coffee beans are spread out to dry to reduce excess moisture.

Step 6: Collection. At this point, the coffee beans leave the farm and are transported to the processing station.

Step 7: Continued drying. The washed coffee beans are spread on waterproof tarps to dry to further reduce moisture. This takes 1-5 days, depending on weather conditions.

Step 8: Hulling. The coffee beans are hulled to remove all dried mucilage and parchment at once.

Step 9: Final drying. The coffee beans are returned to the drying yard to continue drying and be turned, then they are sorted and bagged, preparing them for transportation.

Representative Coffee Beans

FrontStreet Coffee Colombian Isabella Coffee Beans

Colombian Huila Isabella Coffee Beans

Country: Colombia

Region: Huila

Variety: Pink Bourbon

Processing Method: Semi-Washed

Altitude: 1760m

Roasting Suggestions

Preheat the roaster to 180°C, open the damper to 3, with heat at 120; return temperature at 1'42", when the drum temperature reaches 140°C, maintain heat level and open damper to 4; at this point, the bean surface turns yellow, grassy aroma completely disappears, entering the dehydration stage. When reaching 176°C, reduce heat to 100, when reaching 180°C, reduce heat to 70, keeping damper unchanged.

At 8'17", ugly wrinkles and black markings appear on the bean surface, toast aroma clearly transforms to coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this point, listen carefully for the sound of first crack. First crack begins at 9'30", adjust damper to 5 (adjust heat very carefully, not too small to stop crackling sounds), develop for 1'30" after first crack, discharge at 191.5°C.

Cupping Results

FrontStreet Coffee Colombian Isabella Cupping Results

Recommended brewing method: Pour-over

Dripper: Hario V60

Water temperature: 90°C

Dose: 15 grams

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:16

Grind size: Medium-fine grind (BG 6k: 80% pass-through rate with China standard #20 sieve)

Brewing technique: Segmented extraction

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Colombian Isabella Coffee

Use 34g of water for bloom for 40 seconds. When pouring with small水流 in a circular motion to 127g, create a segment. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 240g and stop pouring. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, remove the dripper (timing starts from bloom). Extraction time is 2'00".

Brewing flavor: Entry reveals citrus, berries, and cherry tomato. With temperature changes, there's a honey-like sweetness, and the aftertaste has floral notes. The mouthfeel is smooth and clean.

END

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