In The Cup
We are super excited about this coffee for a few reasons. Firstly, it is from our friend Jonny Martinez’s family farm. Jonny is our import partner for Wilton Be...
In The Cup
We are super excited about this coffee for a few reasons. Firstly, it is from our friend Jonny Martinez’s family farm. Jonny is our import partner for Wilton Benitez coffees, but he also lives near us in Lancashire, so we enjoy getting together at local coffee events! Another thing we love about this coffee is the intense and exciting flavours which make this coffee amazing bang for buck! In this Pink Bourbon we are getting loads of sweetness and complexity with notes of Parma violets, cherry lips, grapefruit and papaya.
The Story
El Jaragual is the family farm of one of our importing partners, Jonny Martinez. Initially we started working with Jonny to buy the incredible coffees produced by superstar farmer, Wilton Benitez, which are imported by Jonny’s company, Micafe. However when Jonny told us that his family farm, El Jaragual, has started working closely with Wilton to develop similar processing styles, we had to taste them!
El Jaragual is overseen by Jonny’s cousin, Jorge Mira, and is located in Amalfi, in the Antioquia region of Colombia. The farm is about 150 hectares in size and currently produces 7 varieties, including more traditional varieties such as Castillo, Colombia and Caturra and recently they have started growing more premium varieties such as Pink Bourbon, Gesha, Typica Mejorado and Sidra.
Social and Environmental
Jorge’s background was as a forestry engineer, so naturally a large portion of El Jaragual is dedicated to sustainable forestry and conservation. The farm features a blend of pine tree plantation aimed at sustainable timber production and also conservation areas of native forest.
El Jaragual also go above and beyond to look after their people. During harvest time they get an influx of workers which they pay by time and always above minimum wage. They also provide meals for workers and pay pension contributions and health insurance. Permanent workers also get bonuses at the end of the year and social events are hosted for workers, their families and the local community as well as contributions being made to the local school which has about 60 children.
The Variety
Pink Bourbon is a variety that has gained a lot of notoriety in the speciality coffee world in recent years, and this is mostly because of the delicious cup quality that it can produce. Interestingly, Pink Bourbon has not actually been genotyped yet so we can’t actually be sure what exactly it is! As the name suggests, the cherries are usually a pinkish colour, although they can also appear more orange and sometimes striped. This has led people to believe that it is hybrid of Red Bourbon and Yellow Bourbon.
It is also believed that there are different strains of Pink Bourbon and as it is likely to be a hybrid, some are stable while others can revert back to either Red or Yellow Bourbon. This can also lead to varying cup qualities from different lots, some can be very high scoring, with high sweetness and floral notes, similar to some coffees from Southern Ethiopia, while other lots of Pink Bourbon sometimes can have a flatter cup profile.
The Process
1. Harvesting: This is carried out ensuring a minimum of 90% ripe cherry.
2. Floating: This ensures the removal of green, overripe, and dry cherries.
3. Oxidation: This is done in food-grade plastic drums for 24 hours.
4. Pulping: The cherries are pulped dry.
5. Oxidation after pulping: For 24 hours in order to remove the mucilage. The coffee is then washed at temperatures of 45°C, creating a thermal shock.
6. Fermentation: For 36 hours at temperatures below 25°C with specific yeast. 7. Fermentation completion: After 36 hours, the coffee is washed at temperatures of 5°C to seal the fermentation.
8. Drying: After the 36 hours of fermentation, the coffee goes into drying, which is carried out for 76 hours at average temperatures of 40°C.
9. Stabilisation: This is done in grainpro-type bags.