Colombia — Ilde Burbano El Pilon Pink Bourbon (Anaerobic Washed)

Tastes Like — 🍇 Green Grape • 🫐 Blackberry • 🌿 Bergamot

DETAILS

• Producer: Ilde Burbano
• Farm: El Pilon
• Region: Palestina, Huila, Colombia
• Varietal: Pink Bourbon
• Process: Anaerobic Washed
• Altitude: 1,740 MASL
• Size: 227g / 8oz

INTRO

This is Moonwake's first offering from El Pilón — a family farm with a fifty-year legacy in Palestina, Huila. Led by producer Ilde Burbano, the farm blends deep traditional knowledge with a progressive willingness to adopt new varieties and processing methods, resulting in a Pink Bourbon that is genuinely distinctive.

Clean, bright grape and berry flavours alongside a lingering bergamot fragrance are unusual companions in an anaerobic washed coffee — and that rarity is exactly what makes this lot so exciting.

THE PRODUCER

El Pilon has been part of the Burbano family for fifty years, rooted in the coffee-growing traditions of Palestina, Huila — one of Colombia's most celebrated producing regions. Ilde Burbano leads the farm today, maintaining that generational knowledge whilst progressively integrating new varieties and processing innovations with the support of export partners.

Pink Bourbon is one of the most prized and dynamic varietals coming out of Colombia, and El Pilon's approach to it — combining traditional farming expertise with carefully controlled anaerobic fermentation — showcases what is possible when heritage and innovation work together.

THE PROCESS

The Anaerobic Washed process at El Pilon involves:

• 🍒 Selective Harvest — Pink Bourbon cherries hand-picked at peak ripeness
• 🔧 Depulping — Cherries mechanically depulped before fermentation begins
• 🧪 Anaerobic Fermentation — Depulped coffee fermented anaerobically for 24 hours in sealed tanks, allowing controlled development of fruit aromatics
• 💧 Double Washing — Coffee washed twice to achieve a clean, precise finish
• ☀️ Drying — Dried on raised beds for 10–25 days depending on conditions

The double wash after anaerobic fermentation is what gives this lot its distinctive character — the process-driven fruit intensity of the fermentation is preserved, but cleaned to a level of clarity that lets the Pink Bourbon varietal's inherent brightness shine through.

THE CUP

Right away there's a beautifully juicy green grape note — tangy and well defined. As it cools, that brightness deepens into a more complex blackberry character that sometimes shifts toward cherry. All the while, a lingering fragrance of fresh bergamot carries through as the acidity softens. A truly unique take on Pink Bourbon, and one that stands apart from others in the clarity and precision of its flavour.

Flavour Notes

• 🍇 Green Grape
• 🫐 Blackberry
• 🌿 Bergamot