Tasting notes: Pomegranate, mandarin, oolong tea & white floral.

Coffee breakdown:
Origin: Finca “El Placer” in the township of El Mesón, near Bruselas, Huila, Colombia, Colombia
Variety: Bourbon ají
Producer: Alirio Munoz

Alirio and his wife Anayibe Ortiz are members of Los Guacharos, and they are no strangers to the Small Batch off er list. Alirio has worked hard to specialize in more adventurous varieties- his farm has pink bourbon, bourbon aji, caturra, sidra, chiroso, pacas, ombligón, red bourbon, colombia amarillo, and caturrón varieties, and he and Anayibe just planted laurina and wush wush- and they’re planning to plant sudan.

Bourbon Ají is a relatively new coffee variety that is actually not Bourbon but an Ethiopian landrace variety. It was first “discovered” and more widely produced near the town of Bruselas, Huila. “Ají” means “chilli” and the coffee was dubbed that because the coffee cherries are long and slightly chile-shaped and ripen to a similar colour. The coffee can also have a subtle spicy character, plus high sweetness and complexity.

PROCESSING

Alirio picks cherries when they are well ripe and leaves the cherries to start the initial fermentation process (more commonly lately known as “oxidation” ) in a woven bag for around 18 hours, depending on the weather- he’s careful to keep the bags with cherries especially cool during this initial fermentation period. From there, he de-pulps the coffee, and then ferments it for an additional 40-60 (and up to 90!) hours before washing it. To identify the best time to de-pulp the coffee, he takes some and places it in water to see if the mucilage of the sample washes off easily- he also says that he tastes it to see if the coffee has a prickly, bright taste to it. He washes the coffee two or three times to remove all of the mucilage. From there, his coffee is sun-dried for around 15 days, and then dried under shade cloth for 10 more days. Parchment coffee is stored in Grain Pro bags at home to ensure that humidity is stable at around 11%.