Which Growing Conditions for Coffee Does Cauca, Colombia Offer
Finca El Paraiso in Cauca Province, southwestern Colombia, grows Pink Bourbon, a cross between Red Bourbon and Yellow Bourbon whose cherries ripen pink and rarely keep that color consistently. The washed lot is grown at 1,930 meters and cups with white peach, plum, grapefruit, and a lingering tea-like floral aroma that suits pour-over brewing.
Cauca is a certified coffee origin region with an average altitude of 1,758 meters, reaching 2,100 meters. About 80 percent of its land is mountainous, with the Andes running east and center, including the Sotara and Petacas volcanoes. Rainfall follows a monomodal pattern, with a dry season from August to September and a rainy season that triggers concentrated flowering. Colombia ranks behind Brazil and Vietnam in production.
In Cauca Province in southwestern Colombia, there is a farm called El Paraiso, which produces a rather rare coffee variety—Pink Bourbon. It is a cross between Red Bourbon and Yellow Bourbon. When the coffee cherries ripen, they take on a romantic pink color, but maintaining this color consistently is extremely difficult. Front Street Coffee has ventured deep into the Cauca producing region this time to bring you this special report on a washed Pink Bourbon, breaking it down one by one from the terroir of the producing region, the farm’s background, green bean characteristics, to the roasting curve and cupping flavors. If you are interested in the diverse flavors of pour-over coffee, this bean—with notes of white peach, plum, grapefruit, and a lingering tea-like floral aroma—may become your next choice to try.
Front Street Colombia · Pink Bourbon
Country: Colombia
Region: Cauca Province
Farm: El Paraiso Farm
Variety: Pink Bourbon
Processing Method: Washed
Altitude: 1,930 meters
|Colombia Cauca
Colombia is the third-largest coffee-producing country in the world, after Brazil and Vietnam. Commercial cultivation can be traced back to the 1830s, and by the 20th century coffee had become the largest category among the country’s agricultural exports. Its mountainous terrain, combined with diverse tropical microclimates, provides ideal growing conditions for coffee. About 75% of total production is exported, making it one of Colombia’s most important sources of foreign exchange.
Colombia’s main coffee-producing regions include: Huila (San Augustin), Narino, Tolima, Popayan (Cauca), Valle de Cauca, Meta, Antioquia (Medellin), Magdelena (Sierra Nevada), Boyaca, Santander (Bucaramanga), etc.
Cauca Province is one of Colombia’s certified coffee origin regions, with an average altitude of 1,758 meters, rising as high as 2,100 meters. The region’s topography, rainfall, temperature, and volcanic soil create favorable conditions for coffee cultivation. Of its territory, 80% is mountainous, with parallel ranges of the Andes distributed in the east and center; the central range includes two major volcanoes, Sotara and Petacas. Similar to other southwestern producing regions, Cauca has a clearly monomodal rainfall pattern, with the dry season usually occurring from August to September each year, followed by the rainy season bringing a concentrated coffee flowering period, and then a concentrated harvest season the following year.
|Farm Introduction
Diego Bermubez is a young coffee producer from Bolivar, Cauca. After completing his studies in agricultural business management in 2006, he began devoting himself to coffee cultivation. From the very beginning, he aspired to become a specialty coffee producer, applying all the knowledge he learned during university to coffee production, and has since participated in numerous coffee quality competitions, achieving impressive results.
El Paraiso Farm has a mild and humid climate and is also affected by frequent winds from the Pacific. These conditions help give the coffee tropical fruit aromas.
The coffee cherries on the farm ripen slowly and accumulate sufficient sugar, which greatly improves the cupping quality of the coffee. At Finca El Paraiso, in order to ensure the consistency of the coffee’s quality, mechanical and sustainable methods are used to process the coffee.
|Processing Method
This Front Street El Paraiso Farm Pink Bourbon coffee bean is washed processed.
Sorting coffee cherries — removing pulp — fermentation — washing — drying — hulling
The sorted coffee cherries are sent into a depulper to initially remove the skin and pulp; the green coffee beans with residual pulp and mucilage are placed in water and fermented for about 24 hours; after fermentation is complete, the parchment-covered green beans are washed in a flowing water channel to remove the pulp and mucilage; after washing, they are sun-dried or dried with a dryer until the moisture content drops to about 12%; finally, the parchment layer of the green beans is removed.
|Green Bean Analysis
Pink Bourbon, as the name suggests, has coffee cherries that take on a romantic pink color when ripe. This is a very rare new variety, developed by crossing Red Bourbon and Yellow Bourbon. The main reason it is considered rare is that it is extremely difficult to consistently maintain this beautiful pink color; sometimes some orange Bourbon is harvested, because the color of the coffee fruit is ultimately determined by recessive genes in the pollen grains. Among the selected hybrid pollen grains, there are both yellow genes tending toward Yellow Bourbon and red genes tending toward Red Bourbon. These are all recessive genes and are very prone to interfering with one another.
Observing the green beans, the seeds are oval-shaped and relatively large, but not very uniform in size. The silver skin attached to the surface is yellow with a hint of orange, and the bean body color is blue-green with gray; it smells of grass and a faint citrus aroma.
|Roasting Analysis
Roaster Yangjia 800N (batch size 500g)
When the chamber temperature rose to 165°C, the beans were charged, the damper was set to 3, and the gas was set to 100; the turning point appeared at 1 minute 35 seconds. At a chamber temperature of 145°C, the gas was kept unchanged and the damper was opened to 4; at this point the bean surface turned yellow, the grassy smell completely dissipated, and the dehydration stage began. At 166°C the gas was lowered to 80, and at 176°C it was lowered again to 60, while the damper remained unchanged.
At 7 minutes 50 seconds, obvious wrinkles and dark patches appeared on the bean surface, and the toast aroma turned into coffee aroma, which can be regarded as the prelude to first crack. At this time, it is necessary to listen carefully for the sound of first crack. First crack began at 8 minutes 57 seconds, the gas was turned down to 40, and the damper was adjusted to 5 (adjusting the gas requires extra caution; it must not be so low that there is no cracking sound). After first crack, development continued for 2 minutes 05 seconds, and the beans were dropped at 195°C.
Agtron bean color value 72.5 (left image), Agtron ground color value 76 (right image), Roast Delta value 3.5.
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Cupping: citrus, cocoa, roasted almond, caramel, licorice, lemon, fermented aroma, tea aroma, floral aroma
1. Flavor descriptions vary from person to person and are also affected by water temperature and brewing method. This cupping report is based on the same brewing equipment and parameters and is provided according to the descriptions defined by the flavor wheel, with the purpose of offering a reference;
2. The content will be revised promptly as new information becomes available, with the latest update prevailing.
|Brewing Suggestions
Recommended brewing method: pour-over
1. Dripper: V60
2. Water temperature: 88-90°C
3. Grind size: medium-fine (BG 5R: 58% passing through China standard No. 20 sieve), that is, the coarseness of granulated sugar
4. Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15
Extraction method: 15g coffee grounds, bloom with 30g water for 30 seconds, pour in stages until the water reaches 118g, then when the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring until 227g and stop, then when the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, remove the dripper. Extraction time is 2 minutes.
[Front Street Colombia El Paraiso Farm Pink Bourbon]
Flavor: Overall relatively clean and balanced, feels relatively light and smooth, with flavors of white peach, plum, grapefruit, cream, roasted almond, and cocoa, and a lingering finish of tea aroma and floral aroma.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
