Colombian Huila Smallholder Grown Washed Pink Bourbon Selected Micro-Lot Coffee

FrontStreet Coffee - Colombia Huila Smallholder Washed Pink Bourbon Select Micro-lot Coffee

Pink Bourbon was first identified in the town of Palestine in Colombia's Huila province, and today it is still grown mainly in Huila. Botanically, it is a natural hybrid of Yellow Bourbon and Red Bourbon. Yellow Bourbon and Red Bourbon are dominant traits carried by dominant genes, which makes them genetically stable to propagate. Pink Bourbon, by contrast, is a recessive trait carried by recessive genes, so the offspring of hybrid breeding tend to segregate heavily.

On top of that, coffee trees reproduce sexually through pollen, and dominant varieties readily pollinate Pink Bourbon, which badly disrupts the flowering and fruiting of the following season. That is the main reason Yellow Bourbon and Red Bourbon are common while Pink Bourbon is rarely seen.

Some readers may wonder whether drinking Pink Bourbon this year means there will be none next year. In fact, that is not the case. For one thing, the natural hybridization of Yellow and Red Bourbon into Pink Bourbon never stops. For another, almost all Arabica coffee is self-pollinating, meaning the flower waiting to be pollinated and the pollen itself may come from the same plant, or even the same flower, which greatly improves the stability of recessive expression. Still, when cultivating Pink Bourbon, a relatively isolated growing environment is essential to prevent genetic contamination from other varieties.

There is another theory about Pink Bourbon's genetics. Some studies have found it to be a natural hybrid of Colombia and Caturra. Caturra is an excellent Bourbon-line variety, while Colombia, widely promoted for planting in Colombia, carries a partial Robusta ancestry that gives it high yield and resistance to coffee leaf rust, though at the cost of mediocre flavor and a shortage of delicate sweet and sour notes.

Genetics certainly matter, but coffee is ultimately an agricultural crop. Quality comes from a combination of conditions: geography, variety, cultivation and care, and harvesting and processing. Pink Bourbon happens to be fortunate on all of these fronts.

FrontStreet Coffee Colombia Huila Smallholder Washed Pink Bourbon Select Micro-lot Coffee

Origin: San Adolfo, Acevedo, Huila, Colombia

Processing Station: a group of small producers

Altitude: 1,700 - 1,800 Meters

Variety: Pink Bourbon

Processing Method: Fully Washed

Harvest Processing Time: 2018 / 2019

Roast Level: Light

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Huila sits in the southern part of Colombia's Central Cordillera, a landscape of hills ringed by mountains where the country's most important rivers converge, feeding abundant water and humidity into the growing area at elevations above 1,500 meters. If you want a reference point for the department, FrontStreet's washed Huila is a fine place to start: medium-dark roasted, it pushes forward the bittersweet depth of dark chocolate and nuts alongside a moderate oil and a full, rounded body. It is just as happy in a pour-over or French press as it is brewed as moka pot or espresso, whether you are making an Americano or a latte.

For a more modern expression of Colombian coffee, try the FrontStreet Colombia Frontera Estate Sidra. Grown with anaerobic natural processing, it ferments in a low-oxygen environment that converts the fruit into tropical aromatics; lightly to medium roasted, it offers complex notes of passion fruit, grape, apricot, and dried fruit whether you brew it as pour-over, cold brew, drip bag, or moka pot.

FrontStreet's Premium Blend is another option that leans on Colombia for structure. Blending Brazilian creaminess and nuttiness with Colombian dark chocolate bittersweetness, it pulls a fine golden crema and is easy to work with, whether you are pouring a latte or building the base of an Americano, cappuccino, or mocha.