Alejandra Muñoz - Colombia - Pink Bourbon - Hybrid Washed - Filter
An extraordinary Pink Bourbon from Zarza Coffee. This lot mixes highly advanced processing with one of our favourite varieties. Expect notes of raspberry, white tea, and nectarine.
Alejandra Muñoz is another young and ambitious coffee producer in the area of Pitalito, Huila. The 26 year-old runs the Zarza Coffee farm along with her husband, Jhonatan Gasca, who together are part of a new generation of innovative coffee producers in the region. Their coffees are the result of a holy-trinity of coffee quality; healthy coffee trees, selective varieties, and advanced fermentation and processing methods.
Info
Farm
Zarza is a 6.5 hectare farm planted with Variedad Colombia, Gesha, Tabi, and this Pink Bourbon.
Region
The farm is located in Pitalito, Huila.
Sustainability
Alejandra and the team keep hives of honey bees to increase bee populations and improve both the biodiversity of the farm and the health of the coffee trees.
Elevation
The Zarza farm sits at 1,540 masl.
Variety
This lot is 100% Pink Bourbon, an Ethiopian landrace variety famed for it's florality, tea-like quality & citrus notes.
Process
Fully-ripe cherries are left to oxidise before being placed in sealed plastic bags to ferment anaerobically. The coffee is then pulped and placed in bags again for a second anaerobic fermentation in mucillage. It is then 'thermal-shock washed' to remove the mucillage, before being washed again with fresh spring water to remove impurities. The drying is then meticulously monitored in a controlled environment for a maximum of 8 days.
Pink Bourbon
“The mistakenly-named Pink Bourbon is not a Bourbon at all, nor a mutation of Bourbon, but actually an Ethiopian landrace variety”
The origins of how this Ethiopian landrace variety, with its pinkish-hued fruit, landed in Colombia is a mystery. The most likely explanation is that someone, at some time, tried to bring in Gesha seed from Ethiopia and instead ended up with what we now know as Pink Bourbon. What we do know however, is that this person lived in Huila, and planted the variety alongside an abundance of Bourbon.
Suspicions that this ‘Pink Bourbon’ was not actually Bourbon at all quickly came about when the pink-variation began dominating cupping tables with a profile unlike any other Bourbon before it. The pronounced florality, citric acidity and tea-like quality set it on a path to become a highly sought after cult-favourite amongst the specialty coffee world. Reminiscent of some other Ethiopians landraces before it…
Bee Conservation
“Bees are one of, if not the most, important living organisms on our planet” At the forefront of Zarza’s blueprint for sustainable agriculture is Bee Conservation. The family keeps hives of bees purely for the purpose of biodiversity and to upkeep bee populations, which have seen rapid declines globally in the past few decades due to, in no small part, the agricultural use of pesticides. The family is convinced that this Apiculture, along with their organic practices, is to thank for the thriving state of the farm. The farm, coffee trees and fruit are flourishing, and the quality of their coffee is exceptional.
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