We have been looking forward to this coffee for a long time. Pink Bourbon from farmer Marisol Ñañéz is a great, clean and juicy filter that may remind you of Kenyan coffee.
The Farm:
Marisol Ñañéz, who is the owner of Finca La Correa, grew up in a family of coffee farmers, so it’s no wonder she decided to dedicate her life to coffee. She was involved in the farm from a young age and at the age of ten she received her first piece of land from her dad, which acted as a great motivation for her. Later, in 2009, she went to Bogotá to do a course on quality and also physical and sensory analysis of coffee. Then in 2010, Marisol won a competition and as a prize she got the opportunity to become a Q grader (certified quality controller). She later completed her training in coffee selection so that she could then apply everything on the farm. She also ran a women’s organization for 5 years with her own products, especially roasted coffee, which helped her gain exposure and recognition for her project management and marketing skills.
The farm has started growing exotic varieties such as Pink Bourbon, Bourbon Ají and others. They also began experimenting with fermentations.
“Originally, my dad lived with my mom at my paternal grandmother’s house, but to support the family, he traveled to the department of Putumayo to work as a laborer. He used to get hired for coca cultivation work. The work was good, and after a few months he told my mother to go and see him and us, we were three siblings at the time. Eight days after my mother moved with us, the government started persecuting people who were growing coca and the bombing started. My mom ran away with us and hid us from the planes that were dropping bombs, so she quickly decided to come back to Huila with us, and that’s when my dad bought a quarter of an acre from one of his brothers and started growing coffee on it. Step by step he bought small plots of land, and gradually in this way he bought from five different owners about 9 hectares of land on which we have coffee and 2 hectares of nature reserve.
Since then we have been working with choice coffee, we have made a good name for ourselves with our results, we have coffee that has won awards for its quality. Thanks to the natural conditions and the quality of the soil, which is rich in nutrients, our coffee is characterised by its smoothness and balance with notes of citrus and flowers with medium acidity. Thanks to coffee, we can live in peace and have a relatively good life, even though the work on the farm is far from easy and simple.”
Variety:
Pink Bourbon is a quite recent variety, discovered by luck in 2014 by Lucho on his farm in Colombia. Although it has Bourbon in its name, it doesn’t have that much in common with the Bourbon variety. Lucho gave it this name because he found it growing among the Bourbon variety and its fruit is slightly pinkish. After DNA analysis, it turned out that the dominant genetic component is represented by Ethiopian heirloom varieties, followed by a slight resemblance to Mufindi (Tanzania), Bourbon and Catimor. Taste-wise, it is a very good variety. Juicy, with a full body and acidity reminiscent of Kenyan coffees.
Processing:
The process begins with the harvesting of only ripe coffee cherries. After harvesting, a floating process is carried out to remove some defective cherries. The sorted cherries are packed into GrainPro bags, where they are left for 72 hours. The cherries are then pulped and repacked into GrainPro bags for fermentation with mucilage, which lasts 50 hours. This is followed by a semi-washed process, where part of the mucilage is removed. Drying takes place in a polycarbonate dryer for 23 days. Finally, the dried beans are packed into bags for storage.
Our baristas notes:
We love Marisol coffees and try to include them every single harvest. This year you can expect a fruity juicy filter that has an almost Kenyan character. The body is dominated by the distinct fruitiness of hibiscus tea and purple grapes which gradually melds into a fudge-like sweetness in the mouth. The coffee has a medium to higher acidity which is backed by a medium to higher sweetness. This is a balanced cup of fruity coffee at overall.
Recipe for V60:
94 °C water
300ml water
20g coffee
720 micron grind (24 clicks per comandante)
0:00 40ml water
0:35 100 ml water
1:15 80ml water
1:55 80 ml water
Total time around 3 minutes.
