Colombia Gabriel Castaño

Colombia — Gabriel Castaño Buendía La Granada Pink Bourbon (Washed)

Tastes Like — 🍊 Grapefruit • 🍑 Dried Apricot • 🍈 Fig • 🌰 Walnut

DETAILS

• Producer: Gabriel Castaño Buendía
• Farm: La Granada
• Region: Acevedo, Huila, Colombia
• Varietal: Pink Bourbon
• Process: Washed (90hr cherry fermentation)
• Altitude: 1650 MASL
• Harvest: December 2024
• Size: 283g (10oz)

INTRO

Gabriel Castaño Buendía's La Granada in Acevedo, Huila is one of the farms that helped define Pink Bourbon in southern Colombia. A longtime producer known for both quality and generosity, Gabriel has shared plant material and knowledge with growers across the region — earning the informal title of Pink Bourbon's "godfather" in Huila.

This lot was fermented whole in cherry for 90 hours, then rinsed and dried for a vibrant, structured cup: grapefruit brightness, dried apricot sweetness, the deep complexity of fig, and a grounded walnut finish.

THE PRODUCER

Gabriel Castaño Buendía has lived through some of the most turbulent chapters of Colombia's recent history. During the instability of the late 1980s and 1990s — when the coffee price pact collapsed and smallholder farmers faced severe economic pressure — Gabriel, like many of his peers, briefly turned to alternative crops to survive. As soon as he could, he returned to coffee. Purchasing his two-hectare finca La Granada in Acevedo's southern Huila, he planted a curious, rust-resistant variety he had encountered on a neighbouring farm: Pink Bourbon.

What followed was a decades-long labour of love. Gabriel refined his cultivation and processing techniques through careful observation, built a thriving farm with over 8,000 trees, and became one of the region's most respected producers. Crucially, he shared his knowledge and plant material freely with neighbours and surrounding farms — a generosity that helped spread Pink Bourbon across the entirety of southern Huila and beyond. Gabriel and his wife Carmen have six children, four daughters and two sons, all of whom have followed their parents into coffee farming. Despite his age and the health challenges that prevent him from drinking coffee himself, Gabriel says he wouldn't trade his life for anything.

This lot reaches Sigma Coffee via Azahar Coffee, one of Colombia's most respected exporters, whose direct relationships with producing families have been central to bringing coffees of this calibre to market.

THE PROCESS

The extended-fermentation Washed process at La Granada involves:

• 🍒 Selective Hand-Picking — Only fully ripe pink cherries are selected; difficult to identify at peak ripeness, Pink Bourbon requires experienced, attentive pickers
• 📅 90-Hour Whole-Cherry Fermentation — Intact cherries are weighed and placed in sealed bags, fermenting whole for 90 hours before de-pulping; this extended pre-fermentation builds intensity and complexity in the seed
• 🔧 De-Pulping — After the cherry fermentation, fruit is removed mechanically
• 💧 Rinsing — Seeds are rinsed thoroughly in fresh water to remove residual mucilage
• ☀️ Raised-Bed / Mechanical Drying — Coffee is dried on raised beds and/or parabolic dryers for 15–20 days until moisture content stabilises
• ✅ Quality Sorting — Final cup assessment before milling and export via Azahar Coffee

The 90-hour whole-cherry fermentation is the defining step — it amplifies the Pink Bourbon variety's natural fruit character whilst maintaining the clarity and structure of a washed process, resulting in a vibrant, complex cup that distinguishes itself clearly from more conventionally processed Colombian coffees.

THE CUP

Vibrant and structured, this Pink Bourbon opens with a bright grapefruit citrus that defines the cup's character from the first sip. Dried apricot brings a rounded, concentrated sweetness, whilst fig introduces a darker, more complex fruit dimension. Walnut grounds the finish with a pleasant, roasted nuttiness. Complex, layered, and deeply satisfying — a genuine showcase for what extended fermentation can achieve in the hands of an experienced producer.

Flavour Notes

• 🍊 Grapefruit
• 🍑 Dried Apricot
• 🍈 Fig
• 🌰 Walnut