Christmas Brews – Week #2
Available until Wednesday 17th December 

A pink bourbon lot from Jose’s farm Finca El Diviso at around 1750 masl in Bruselas, Huila

We met Jose many years ago through a small group of friends, family and neighbors who formed a small independent association called Los Guácharos (pronounced WATCH-ah-ros) in Bruselas, southern Huila many years ago. Jose originally hails from Nariño, and his family moved to Huila- first to San Agustín, where they worked cutting sugarcane and producing panela, and later to Pitalito as coffee pickers. Jose saved enough to purchase the family farm Finca El Diviso 29 years ago. When he first bought the farm, they only had 1.5 hectares of land, but over the years he purchased neighboring parcels, and the farm now measures 17 hectares, including 1 hectare of natural forest reserve.

As recently as seven or eight years ago, the farm was planted with traditional varieties, and all of the coffee was sold commercially, sometimes even as wet parchment. But along with his sons Adrian, Nestor and Jhonathan, Jose decided to focus on specialty coffee production to escape the volatility of commodity prices and improve their family’s quality of life. These days, 80% of the farm is planted with “exotic” varieties- gesha, sidra, yellow bourbon, bourbon aji and obligón- and the remaining 20% maintains traditional varieties.

PINK BOURBON
The pink bourbon trees at El Diviso come from seeds originally sourced from San Adolfo, where the variety was first discovered. The oldest trees were planted seven years ago, and the newest planting was two years ago- those just entered full production this year. There are about 14,000 pink bourbon trees over 3.2 hectares.

PROCESSING
The family has standardized their processing through years of trial and error. First, they pick cherries at optimal ripeness, and then float them to remove under-ripe cherries. From there, cherries are moved to large plastic tanks equipped with a receptacle to collect the mucilage (or mosto) where an oxidative fermentation begins in the open air environment- this oxidation enhances fruit and chocolate notes, and begins to develop acidity. From there, the seeds are de-pulped, followed by an anaerobic, dry fermentation in 200 liter sealed plastic containers for 48 hours- this step helps to emphasize floral, aromatic and citrus qualities. From there, they add the mosto mixed with water for an additional 24 hours- temperatures are maintained between 16-17°C during this submerged fermentation step- this step can balance the cup structure, add body and harmonize the acidity.

Finally, they stop the fermentation with a thermal shock using 65°C water for 20-25 minutes- this fixes aromatics into the bean pores with the heat, and then seals them by rinsing in cold water, which improves cleanliness and can extend the shelf life. They do a single wash, and then begin their two-stage drying process: first, drying in the sun for 2-3 days, then a mechanical drying step in a dehumidifier for 20-30 hours at a maximum temperature of 36-37°C.

PRICING TRANSPARENCY
We purchase parchment coffee directly from the association, and pesos are transferred straight to their bank account. We pay for transport from Pitalito  to the mill in Cauca. We paid 3,800,000 pesos per carga for Jose’s coffee. A carga is 125 kilos of parchment coffee. For context, here is a link to the daily carga market price:
https://www.federaciondecafeteros.org/static/files/precio_cafe.pdf.Roasted for espresso brewing.