Overview
It’s an honor to roast and serve for the fifth consecutive season, another stunning showcase of the Pink Bourbon variety from Didier Ortega in San Agustín, Colombia.
We were connected to Didier in 2021 through Semilla Coffee and Esnaider Ortega Gomez (of one of our perennial favorite offerings, Familia Ortega Gomez). In the past few years, Esnaider’s vision has evolved into a new collective of coffee growers in the San Agustín area, called Monkaaba (more info on Monkaaba in the Relationship section!). Made up of mostly close friends and family for now, the producer group is working exclusively with Semilla, who are paying some of the highest prices for coffee in all of Colombia.
A note from Didier: “For me, the dedication, love and passion for specialty coffee is relatively recent. On the farm, there has always been coffee. I've worked in it, however I left home to travel, study and work in other areas.
The 20th of June 2020 was an important date; we could say one that has changed the path of my life. We were invited to a family reunion in the house of Don Olgar Ortega, for the purpose of forming a group made up of friends and family members called Monkaaba. The idea of this group excited me so much that I decided to put all my effort into it.
I met Esnaider Ortega and many others who showed me a passionate and collaborative face and shared with me knowledge about specialty coffee. I felt really happy. We gave ourselves the task to learn about the sensory and physical analysis of coffee, to roast samples and to record the stories of those that are behind these coffees. We’re still in the process of learning all of this.
I have a lot of excitement about learning more about coffee: it’s sustainable production, be it economically, socially, or environmentally, to learn about the international coffee market and to be able to help coffee growing families to learn to value their work as specialty coffee producers and of course to meet Brendan [Semilla Coffee] and all the buyers of our coffee, to whom we are very grateful.The pandemic brought us back to the farm and here we will stay, learning about the universe of coffee. The process has been one of lots of trial and error and a lot of learning, and it’s been very gratifying. I hope to continue and to improve."
What was once thought to be a naturally mutated hybrid of the Red and Yellow Bourbon varieties has recently been genetically identified as an Ethiopian Landrace - meaning that it’s actually an heirloom type variety that grows wild in Ethiopia. The story of how it ended up being widely cultivated in Huila, Colombia, is still a mystery!
What we do know is that this offering from Didier always delivers a uniquely complex and noteworthy cup. This year’s harvest is slightly more soft and rounded in comparison to previous iterations, but the coffee remains absolutely delicious. We’re finding less florals and high-end fruit notes, but the intense sweetness makes this coffee as interesting as it is approachable. We’re tasting: dried mango, peach cobbler, nectarine, rooibos tea, butterscotch, caramel, vanilla, nougat, milk chocolate.
Relationship
In early 2020 we were introduced to the young and extremely passionate coffee producer, Esnaider Ortega Gomez, via our friend Brendan Adams of Semilla Coffee. After being thoroughly impressed by some early harvest samples and forming a friendship through ongoing talks with Esnaider over the span of a few months, we decided to dive head first into fully supporting his project. Currently all of our Colombia offerings are sourced through this supply stream.
Ensaider’s vision has grown to establish a group of growers in the San Augustin area, collectively known as Monkaaba. In addition to securing specialty market access through Semilla, Esnaider’s major goal is to invest in ongoing education that will grow the group’s knowledge and skills to ensure future success. Esnaider holds regular gatherings to cup and brew each other's coffee, which has led to a much more holistic understanding and confidence in the quality of their coffee.
Semilla Coffee shares about Monkaaba: The idea for this came to Esnaider thanks to his experience over the last ten years working as a sample roaster and cupper. While he was always happy to see producers receive a solid price for their coffees through this exporter, he noticed that there was very little understanding at the buyer level of what went into coffee production. Too often he watched coffees produced by people he knew be rejected due to a single cupping session, and for this producer to receive little explanation of why it was rejected or what could be improved. What worried him the most was how this process could be confusing or demotivating to producers seeking to enter the specialty market, and he knew there had to be many who were being overlooked as a result.
Rather than focusing only on his own success as a grower, he wants to see all those around him engaged in sustainable, meaningful relationships. Now with Monkaaba, he commits himself to this on the daily. Not only does he hold weekly cupping sessions for all producers who would like to have their samples evaluated, but he also invites all those willing and interested to come and cup alongside him.
The early results have been amazing as he’s collected coffees from all over the area and hosted growers of all levels of experience and age at his farm, to cup and to discuss in depth about their goals and dreams and challenges.
Semilla Coffee shares about Didier Ortega: Though they [Esnaider and Didier] are both from coffee growing families and their parents are friends, the two young generations had never spent much time together. In the course of this last harvest season, Didier went from an interested newcomer to Esnaider’s right hand man — receiving samples and cupping at the farm, visiting producers, preparing samples for export, and bringing parchment to be milled.
So often we hear the refrain that low coffee prices are driving young producers away from the farm, and this is indeed true in some places. However, thanks to Esnaider and Monkaaba’s work, we have a real life example of a young man returning to his farm from the city to dedicate himself to coffee production.
These are exactly the type of relationships and projects that we believe to be crucial for the future of specialty coffee and aim to invest as much as possible into. We’re excited to continue our commitment to purchasing Didier’s coffees for many seasons to come.
Processing
When he first started in 2020, Didier spent a lot of time experimenting with fermentation techniques to find his preferred style. The process that was used for our selection of Pink Bourbon was no doubt a standout.
Ripe cherries were selectively picked and left to begin the fermentation process in cherry as they rested in an open air tank overnight for ~16hours. After depulping, the coffee rests again for a 36 hour fermentation submerged underwater. The parchment is then thoroughly rinsed and laid out to dry for a total of 20 days on raised beds in a parabolic drying structure / greenhouse.
Brewing
Brewing Didier’s Pink Bourbon has proven to be surprisingly forgiving, as there’s a lot of flavor to explore. Everything is turned up here - the mouthfeel, acidity, and sweetness, are all saturated and full. As the body trends heavy, we’re enjoying a more open brew ratio of 1:17 (coffee to water) for this coffee. This allows more complexity to shine without being overpowered by simply the concentration of flavors. The ideal brew is going to present a soft but juicy acidity. It should be quite comforting and balanced, with a lot of sweetness - think sweet, dried fruits or cooked fruits.
If your coffee tastes drying and tannic, like oversteeped black tea or red wine - try grinding coarser.
If your coffee tastes too sour, like a lemon or under ripe peach - try grinding finer.
