[FrontStreet Coffee Bean Hunting Journal] Rare Variety Pink Bourbon - Colombia La Mesita Estate Special Feature

Colombia Huila Finca La Mesita

Country: Colombia

Region: Huila

Estate: Finca La Mesita

Altitude: 1760m

Variety: Pink Bourbon

Processing: Semi-washed

Colombia

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 northwestern part of the South American continent, Colombia borders Panama in Central America. From an aerial view, its western side appears as if scratched by a cat's paw, leaving three vertical claw marks from north to south. The country's famous coffee-growing regions are scattered throughout these Andes Mountains with fertile volcanic soil.

Colombian coffee cultivation is primarily based on small farms, with over 300,000 coffee estates nationwide covering a planting area of 1.07 million hectares. 30% to 40% of the rural population's livelihood directly depends on coffee production.

Colombian coffee is generally grown in high-altitude regions above 1,300 meters in the Andes Mountains. Tall trees such as banana trees are interplanted in the plantations to provide shade for the coffee trees. Local farmers cultivate coffee with great precision, producing coffee that is smooth, balanced, and fresh in aroma. They offer both superior commercial-grade beans on average and outstanding specialty coffees.

Precisely because Colombian coffee quality is generally high and very reliable, the country has adopted an surprisingly simple grading system with only two levels: Supremo (Special Select) and Extra. Additionally, approximately 5% of round beans are separately selected and called Peaberry or Peabean. If buyers are not seeking single-origin coffee but rather commercial coffee, Colombians will mix Supremo and Extra in certain proportions for sale. This blend is called Excelso.

Huila Region

Huila Province is located in western Colombia, where the Andes Mountains form a narrow canyon. Coffee grows on the slopes here, making this one of Colombia's renowned coffee-producing regions.

Due to fertile volcanic soil, moderate rainfall, and high-altitude microclimates, Huila Province's coffee features very balanced and gentle flavors. Most production here comes from small farmers, with approximately 80% of producers in the region growing coffee on less than 3 hectares of land. Because most small farmer families themselves care for the coffee, with labor rarely outsourced, farms and coffee beans can be managed more thoroughly and intensively.

Coffee from the Huila region has strong flavor, a heavier body, and nutty, chocolate, and caramel aromas with suitable acidity, making it worthy of being called premium specialty coffee.

Variety Introduction

Bourbon coffee, like Typica coffee, is an old variety belonging to the Arabica coffee species. Bourbon coffee was initially cultivated on Réunion Island, which was called Bourbon Island before 1789, hence the coffee variety was named "Bourbon."

Like other old coffee varieties, unlike Typica coffee, Bourbon plants have wider leaves than Typica, grow more densely, and produce higher coffee yields than Typica. The coffee beans are larger in size, uniform in shape, evenly colored and lustrous, and green fruits turn bright red when ripe.

Bourbon coffee yields nearly 30% higher than Typica, but overall production among many coffee varieties still belongs to low-yielding beans, and it's equally susceptible to leaf rust disease.

Most Bourbon coffee fruits are red, but there are two natural variants that display different colors: Orange Bourbon and Yellow Bourbon. This Pink Bourbon is a hybrid cultivated from Red Bourbon and Yellow Bourbon.

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

It is said that Pink Bourbon was first cultivated by a coffee farmer named Gabriel Castaño in the Huila region. Initially, it was interplanted with other Bourbons and Caturra varieties, but later it was separately harvested and processed. Its cup profile is also very special. Unlike the relatively flat flavor characteristics of typical Bourbons, Pink Bourbon more prominently presents complex citrus and berry fruit expressions in acidity and flavor.

Processing Method

The semi-washed method first involves removing defective and rotten fruits and impurities through water tanks, then removing the skin, pulp, and part of the mucilage layer, followed by 1 hour of water washing. However, due to the short soaking and fermentation time, the mucilage is not easily completely washed away, and mucilage still remains on the bean shell. At this point, the sticky parchment beans are spread out on drying patios to dry. Therefore, coffee produced by this semi-washed processing method contains characteristics of both washed and natural processing methods.

Semi-washed coffee has quite good acidity, sweetness, flavor notes, and aroma. The disadvantage is that the flavor of such coffee is not as intense as coffee produced purely by natural or washed methods.

The origin of the semi-washed processing method was because the washed method consumes too much water. On average, 1 ton of coffee fruits requires 10-20 tons of water to produce approximately 200 kilograms of coffee beans, which coffee-producing countries with limited water resources cannot afford. After 1990, Brazil utilized its unique dry climate to invent the natural mucilage removal method, also known as the semi-washed or semi-dry method.

Roast Profile Analysis

Considering this bean is from this year's new harvest season, with high bean hardness and sufficient moisture content, FrontStreet Coffee's roaster used a medium-small flame roasting approach to extend the bean's dehydration time.

Roaster: Yangjia 800N (300g batch size)

Heat the drum to 180°C and add beans, with damper at 3 and heat at 120. Return temperature at 1'42", when drum temperature reaches 140°C, maintain heat unchanged, open damper to 4. At this point, the bean surface turns yellow, grassy smell completely disappears, entering the dehydration stage. When temperature reaches 176°C, reduce heat to 100, when temperature reaches 180°C, reduce heat to 70, damper remains unchanged.

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

Agtron bean color value 75.9 (above image), Agtron ground color value (below image) 82.5, Roast Delta value 6.6.

Cupping Profile

Flavor: Citrus, floral, honey, berries.

Brewing

FrontStreet Coffee shares brewing parameters

Recommended brewing method: Pour-over

Filter: Hario V60

Water temperature: 90°C

Dose: 15g

Ratio: 1:15

Grind size: Medium-fine (BG 6k: 58% pass-through on China standard #20 sieve)

Brewing technique:分段式萃取 (Segmented extraction)

Use 34g of water for 35-second bloom, then continue pouring in small circular motions to 127g for segmentation. When water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 240g and stop pouring. When water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed again, remove the filter cup. Extraction time (starting from bloom) is 2'00".

Flavor description: Aromas of distinct nut cream, with caramel and cocoa notes in the cup. As temperature changes, lemon acidity and berry aromas emerge. Overall quite balanced, with a smooth and gentle mouthfeel.

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