Borbón Rosado: A Refreshing Pink Bourbon
- Borbón Rosado: A Refreshing Pink Bourbon
Borbón Rosado comes from Acevedo, Huila in Southern Colombia, near where the variety was recently discovered. The coffee is 100% Pink Bourbon from Jose Libardo Diaz Toro’s plot of land that sits at 1600-1700 meters. The Pink Borbón variety, paired with an innovative, lengthy, anaerobic washed process, delivers a fruit-forward coffee that drinks like refreshing pink lemonade.
Jose Libardo Diaz Toro grows coffee on his farm Arrayanes, in Acevedo, Huila. The land is an hour east of Pitalito city, where we’ve been buying coffee since 2015. Over the past six years, Jose has transitioned over 80% of his farm to the Pink Bourbon (or Borbón Rosado) variety. Pink Bourbon has only been discovered in the past decade and remains relatively rare and mostly isolated to a handful of producers in Huila. Unlike most coffee that ripens to a deep red color, Pink Bourbon ripen to a pink color. It’s referred to as a hybridization of Yellow and Orange Bourbon (Bourbon that ripens to yellow or orange respectively), though the tree and flavor tend to have traits akin to Ethiopian varieties.
The result is a bright, floral, juicy cup of coffee
Jose Libardo began planting Pink Bourbon a few years back. When the discovery of the variety was unveiled, buyers were willing to pay a higher premium based on the superb cup quality yielding loads of florals, deep sweetness, and nice complexity. After planting in small sections, he realized the variety was actually growing healthier and was more resistant than his other coffee (including Castillo, the Colombian created variety with resistance and production in mind). Due to the great fortune with Pink Bourbon, Jose transferred four of his five hectares to Pink Bourbon.
After harvesting the Pink Bourbon, Jose Libardo has a unique style of processing, with the goal of expressing as much flavor from the variety as possible. Once the coffee has been harvested, the cherry is sealed in large GrainPro bags, removing as much oxygen as possible to creating an “anaerobic-like” fermentation, while the cherry is still intact, for 24-48. Following the time in cherry, the coffee is then pulped and fermented in sealed bags without oxygen for 36-48 hours, and then washed and dried on covered raised beds. The Pink Bourbon variety offers a bright floral flavor, while the oxygen-free fermentation creates a punchier, fruit-forward flavor in the cup. The result is a bright, floral, juicy cup of coffee with notes of raspberry lemonade, lavender, and milk chocolate.
