Specialty Roast of the Month

We’ve had a string of great Colombian coffees at the roastery, and this one is no different. Bourbon Cake is a banana coferment coffee with notes of cake & banana with a velvety mouthfeel. It’s a delicious pink bourbon that we’re excited to offer.

Basics

ORIGIN
Huila, Tolima, & Caldas, Colombia
PRODUCER
Various from Huila, Tolima, & Caldas
VARIETY
100% Pink Bourbon
ALTITUDE (MASL)
1750

Processing

This coffee is a double anaerobic honey process with banana coferment. Let’s break that down.

First, the coffee cherry (with bean inside) is placed in a fermentation tank with just enough water to cover the cherries. Producers seal the fermentation tank so that no oxygen can get in (this is the anaerobic part). The sugars in the fruit feed the yeast, and it ferments for a short period of time.

During the fermentation process, the yeast breaks down some of the fruit. The yeast also produces CO2, which builds pressure inside the sealed tank. The pressure helps to force some of the fruity, fermenty flavors into the bean.

Next the producers depulp the beans, but they leave the mucilage (this is the honey part) to continue adding flavor. They add banana to the tanks and seal it again to allow the beans to keep fermenting (this is the coferment part).

Once fermentation is complete, the producers wash the beans and lay them out on screens to dry. When the beans are dry, they’re ready to be sold and roasted.
Anaerobic processing gives the bean its fruity flavors and lends consistency to the taste.

Roast Level

Bourbon Cake is a City Roast. We pull our City Roasts from the roaster just as the bean turns a chocolatey color. At this stage, the coffee’s authentic flavors shine without any smokiness or oil. This Colombian coffee is on the light side of medium which accentuates the sweetness and fruit.

Traceability

Bourbon Cake is fair trade and organic.

What is Pink Bourbon?

Bourbon is a coffee varietal. It was first planted by the French on the isle of Bourbon (now called Reunion) off the coast of Madagascar in the 1700s. It developed here until the mid 1800s, when it was transplanted in Central America, India, and other places. The Bourbon varietal is a tall plant that produces very high quality coffee. It is also very susceptible to disease. So while it was once one of the dominant varieties of coffee in Central America, it has been bred with other varieties to produce more disease resistance. These Bourbon-related varietals are now more common than Bourbon.

Pink Bourbon was first named by a Colombian farmer who saw it growing on his farm. The tree had salmon colored berries (the pink) and the farmer assumed it was a hybrid between his red and yellow bourbon plants. Now here’s the really interesting part: Pink Bourbon is not a bourbon varietal at all. Testing in 2023 showed Pink Bourbon was actually an Ethiopian Landrace (wild) variety. How did it get there? While it is a mystery, it’s not an uncommon one. Other varietals in Colombia are also descendants of Ethiopian Landrace coffees, and it’s very possible it was mislabeled as a Gesha. However it happened, Pink Bourbon is still considered one of the tastiest and most interesting varietals in Colombia.