Colombia Luis Octavio - Pink Bourbon

Notes of honeydew, marshmallow, delicate.

Varietals: Pink Bourbon
Region: Bruselas, Huila.
Altitude: 1760 MASL
Processing: Washed

Luis Octavio Titimbo works on his two parcels outside of Bruselas, Huila at 1760 and 1780 MASL. Our pink bourbon lot comes from the higher of the two parcels & he has a relatively small farm with 5,500 caturra trees, 2,000 variedad Colombia, 4,500 pink bourbon trees, and 2,000 bourbon aji trees that were planted in 2020.

To process, Luis starts by floating his cherries in water to remove the under-and-over-ripes. From there, he carefully stores the cherries in a sealed plastic barrel with a valve for off-gassing, and they begin their fermentation process within the cherry. After 48 hours of this initial “cherry-ferment”, he de-pulps the coffee, and leaves it to ferment in a sealed plastic barrel for a low-oxygen environment fermentation - for up to 48 additional hours. Once fermentation is completed, he washes the coffee and takes it to dry. Luis and his family have invested in paying pickers well, meaning that they are able to recruit the same pickers year after year who know how to pick ripe cherries, which ultimately saves them in the long run with better crops and yields.

Luis is a member of Los Guacharos, which is a group of independent, quality-focused small producers in Southern Huila (close to Pitalito) that we have purchased from extensively. Collectively, they’re converting to organic agriculture, making their own fertilizers and fungicides, installing complex water filtration systems that use gravity, stones and sand to remove all mucilage residues from waste water to not contaminate water systems. Their main goal is in commercializing their coffee collectively to take advantage of larger volumes.

This is a primary example of the types of individuals that LVC and our sourcing parter, Shared Source, chooses to work alongside with. Luis is working hard towards organic certification on his farm, & increasing his quality while contributing to an association that improves farmers livelihoods & growing practices every year. We're super grateful to have been able to purchase this lot, and we think it's a stunner!!