Colombia Yellow Bourbon - Snobby Collective Feature

We’re constantly getting new coffee from all over the world and one of the highlights of a coffee roaster is being able to experience and taste these coffee’s.  Some of the coffee has a very unique story.  The attributes in the cup help tell this story and its traceability.  Although this may seem a little theatrical, dwelling deeper into the farm, harvest and processing level can give us an understanding into these attributes found in the cup.

This Yellow Bourbon is the name of the variety grown at the Finca La Montana farm.  It is grown 1,700 - 1,800m above sea level and is a washed process coffee undergoing extended fermentation.  The proud farmer, Rafael Amaya first planted this variety 3-years ago with a focus towards the specialty coffee market.  This microlot is the first lot produced by the Yellow Bourbon trees.

During our origin trip to Colombia in July 2019, we noticed a common new trend amongst many of the specialty coffee farmers.  Many farmers were experimenting with a new fermentation technique we refer to as Extended Fermentation (EF). 

What is fermentation?

Fermentation in coffee is a natural chemical reaction that takes place when you put water and sugar together.  Coffee cherries naturally contain both water and sugar.  This mix causes the substance (usually sugar) to break down into other substances.  Fermentation is an important role that can enhance or ruin the flavor of coffee depending how it is treated.

These guy’s were achieving some amazing results by extending the fermentation time of their coffee.  The cups were sweeter, had more depth and complexity.  They really pushed the boundaries with some exotic notes displayed in the cup and some very unique flavours were spoken of at the cupping table during the trip.  Some farmers including Rafael Amaya (the proud owner of this Yellow Bourbon) went an extra mile and pushed out fermentation even longer.

This month we teamed up with The Snobby Collective to showcase this coffee and reach it out to wider audience.  The Snobby Collective is a specialty coffee collaborative that selects a different roaster each month and sends it out to their subscribers with an info-pack and story board for each coffee.  Paul, the owner of The Snobby Collective aims to tell the story of the people who grow and process the beans.  He breaks down the barriers through insight and understanding.  His passion is driven by the people behind the coffee and does a great job of connecting the end-users of us that sip this delicious liquid to the growers.

Check out the collaboration page from The Snobby Collective: https://www.thesnobbycollective.co.nz/blog/853542

We’ve roasted this coffee in small batches of just 2kg per roast in our Giesen coffee roaster.  The style of roast is for a filter device.  This means the coffee brews well in a plunger, filter machine, pour-over or drip style brew methods.  We’ve chosen this style of roast as this style of brewing really highlights the coffee’s natural characteristics.  We chose to brew this coffee in a Hario V60 and have create a short video on our method here: