Colombia Arnoldo Guarnizo
Washed single farm microlot
Arnoldo and his two brothers own this 11 hectare farm at 1800 masl in Pitalito, Huila. They knew they wanted to grow top quality specialty coffees, so they planted 80% of the farm with pink bourbon and the remaining 20% of the plants are Gesha variety. Their first lots didn’t perform to their liking, cupping below specialty grade, so they went to work experimenting with processing. They elongated fermentation from 24 to 50 hours, and switched to one single fermentation after de-pulping for the cleanest possible cup. Their efforts certainly paid off as this lot has yielded easily one of the most vibrant and clean cups of washed coffee we have ever purchased!
This 100% Pink Bourbon lot presents a super clean and fruit forward cup high in malic and tartaric acids - we get prominent notes of pink apple, red grapes, and pomegranate, with a fruit punch sweetness to balance it all out. The ‘Pink Bourbon’ variety first burst onto the scene in Pitalito in 2014 and has captured the attention of many farmers due to its rust resistance, high productivity, and excellent cup quality. Many aging Caturra trees that have become susceptible to rust have been replaced with this new variety. The Pink Bourbon variety was so named because it was seen growing amidst red and yellow bourbon cultivars, and showed a bright pink cherry color, somewhere between the colors of those other well known bourbon varieties. This turns out to be a complete misnomer as new genetic research has found that “pink bourbon” is not closely related to Bourbon, but is actually an Ethiopian Landrace variety! We find this sort of thing super interesting and love the way this sort of experimentation allows us to compare the flavors inherent to the bean variety itself vs. what’s imparted by the farmer and local soil and weather, i.e. terroir.
This is our first purchase from the Guarnizo family, but this new partnership is the result of a long relationship with one of our importers! We hope to continue purchasing from the Guarnizo family year on year.
