El Mirador - Pink Bourbon

Rare & Exclusive lot (87+ points)

El Mirador, Huila, Colombia – Black Honey Anaerobic Pink Bourbon

– “A stunning example of one of our favourite cultivars grown by ambitious producer Wilder Lazo and brought to us by our dear friend Elias Bayter of El Vergel”. 

What to expect in the cup

Blackberry, clementine, cardamom. Incredibly sweet and juicy with mouthwatering floral citrus acidity and distinct cardamom bun like lingering finish.

£18.00£64.00

This micro-lot is 100% Pink Bourbon, a varietal currently under research to determine its true origin. It’s an endemic hybridisation of Red and Yellow Bourbon, said to have originated in San Adolfo, right where El Mirador is located. The Pink Bourbon is processed with 96 hours of anaerobic fermentation. It is then de pulped and dried on raised beds in a lower-temperature environment before stabilising for 20 days. We discovered this real gem of a coffee after a series of blind cuppings at El Vergel coffee farm with Elias Bayter. This was something special and when we asked Elias what was it and who was the producer, he shouted – “It’s from my friend Wilder Lazo in San Adolfo, Huila and it’s his crazy juicy Pink Bourbon”!!! We were impressed and we had to purchase some straight away as we knew that you will love it just as much as we did on that day on the cupping table at El Vergel.
While Wilder grew up in a coffee-producing family, he never really got into it. He just played under the trees on the farm and eventually left to study and work as a veterinarian. He’d ‘see’ coffee “only in the mornings and with panela sugar, always.” One day, his dad called him to say he was tired and ill, ready to sell the coffee farm, but he wanted to share his feelings with him before doing anything. Nostalgia and memories filled Wilder’s mind, and to his own surprise, he told his dad, “no, don’t sell it. I’ll take charge of the farm. I’ll manage it. I’ll take care of your coffee.” So, around 2017, he left for San Adolfo, Acevedo, Huila, and invested his savings in regenerating the old estate, called El Diviso. Starting from almost zero, but with a scientific approach, he took all the wisdom he could: Cupping classes, lessons about soil and plant properties, visits to other producing countries… The quality of the coffee rose very soon after applying his knowledge, becoming a known name in the specialty coffee market produced in San Adolfo. He expanded to other farms like El Mirador, where this coffee was grown, and keeps adding exotic varieties and experimental processes to the family brand—Café Tocorá—in which brothers, mother and dad are involved.