Colombia — Rina Aguilera Pink Bourbon

Tastes Like — 🍊 Blood Orange • 🌸 Violet • 🥭 Passion Fruit

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DETAILS

• Producer: Rina Aguilera
• Farm: Finca La Wipa
• Region: Tolima, Colombia
• Varietal: Pink Bourbon
• Process: Washed
• Altitude: 1740 masl
• Size: 125g

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INTRO — Delicate Pink Bourbon from a Three-Generation Family Farm

Rina Aguilera's Pink Bourbon represents something special—the first Colombian Pink Bourbon release that showcases the variety's more refined, nuanced expression. Whilst Pink Bourbon typically presents with punchy, sharp, sometimes even sour citrus flavours, this lot from Finca La Wipa is beautifully tempered: tropical passion fruit leading, perfumed violet florals, and bright yet refined blood orange acidity. It's Pink Bourbon at its most sophisticated.

Ms. Aguilera works alongside her son and grandson on this four-hectare farm, with just one hectare dedicated to Pink Bourbon cultivation and the remainder to dairy farming—the family's primary livelihood. This minuscule coffee production allows for extraordinary attention to detail. Every tree, every cherry, every stage of processing receives the careful monitoring that makes exceptional quality possible.

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THE PRODUCER — Three Generations on Finca La Wipa

Rina Aguilera's Finca La Wipa sits at 1,740 metres above sea level in Tolima, a department known for producing some of Colombia's finest specialty coffee. The farm represents a beautiful integration of coffee cultivation and dairy farming, with the Aguilera family maintaining both enterprises across their four hectares. However, it's the single hectare of Pink Bourbon that truly sets this farm apart.

Working alongside her son and grandson, Ms. Aguilera has created a genuine family operation where knowledge and labour are shared across three generations. This multi-generational approach brings both experience and fresh perspectives—traditional farming wisdom combined with contemporary quality-focused techniques that speciality coffee demands.

The decision to dedicate their limited coffee acreage entirely to Pink Bourbon demonstrates both confidence and commitment. Pink Bourbon is notoriously challenging to cultivate—lower yielding than commercial varieties, susceptible to disease, requiring precise harvest timing to capture its unique characteristics. For a small-scale family operation where dairy farming provides the primary income, focusing exclusively on such a demanding variety represents a calculated bet on quality over quantity.

That bet has paid off. The extremely high quality of this lot is made possible precisely because of the farm's small scale and singular focus. With only one hectare of Pink Bourbon, the family can provide the careful, closely monitored cultivation and processing that this variety demands. Every tree receives individual attention, every picking is selective, every processing decision is deliberate.

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THE PROCESS — Traditional Washed Method with Meticulous Care

Whilst specific processing details aren't provided, the clean, bright profile suggests a carefully executed traditional washed process. For a farm this small with this level of quality, processing would involve meticulous attention at every stage:

• 🍒 Selective Harvesting — Only fully ripe pink cherries picked, likely multiple passes through the hectare
• ⚙️ Same-Day Depulping — Quick processing to preserve freshness
• 💧 Controlled Fermentation — Precise fermentation timing to develop complexity whilst maintaining clarity
• 🌊 Thorough Washing — Complete mucilage removal for clean cup profile
• ☀️ Careful Drying — Extended drying with constant monitoring to preserve delicate aromatics

The small scale allows for processing precision that larger operations can't match. When you're processing cherries from a single hectare rather than hundreds, you can adjust fermentation times based on daily temperature variations, monitor drying progress cherry by cherry, and make real-time decisions that preserve quality.

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THE VARIETY — Pink Bourbon's Mysterious Heritage

Pink Bourbon is a relatively uncommon variety, first identified in 2013 and grown almost exclusively in Colombia. Despite its name, genetic analysis suggests it's most likely not Bourbon at all, but rather another Ethiopian landrace variety that made its way to Colombia—joining the ranks of Chiroso, Geisha, Mejorada, Papayo, Sidra, Aji, and Wush Wush.

This Ethiopian heritage makes sense when you taste Pink Bourbon. The flavour profile is much more akin to washed Ethiopian landraces or Panamanian Geisha in its pronounced florality than to typical Colombian Bourbon or Castillo. There's an elegance and complexity that sets it apart from the nutty, chocolatey profile of traditional Bourbon varieties.

The sugar composition in Pink Bourbon, like Red Bourbon, is predominantly glucose rather than sucrose. This creates a smoother, silk-like body that's particularly evident in this lot—the mouthfeel is refined and luxurious, coating the palate without heaviness.

Pink Bourbon is known for its potential for quality when cultivated carefully: pleasant citric acidity, honeyed sweetness, and strong floral presence. This offering from Finca La Wipa demonstrates all these qualities whilst adding its own unique expression—more nuanced and delicate than the variety's typical sharp citrus punch.

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THE CUP — Tropical Fruit with Refined Citrus and Florals

This is Pink Bourbon expressing its most sophisticated side. The tropical passion fruit character leads—beautiful, aromatic, complex. Perfumed violet florals temper the fruit, adding an elegant, almost ethereal quality. The blood orange acidity is present and definite, but tame and nuanced rather than punchy or sharp. It's a Pink Bourbon that invites contemplation rather than demanding attention.

Flavour Notes

• 🍊 Blood Orange — bright yet refined citric acidity with the deeper, more complex character of blood orange
• 🌸 Violet — perfumed floral notes adding elegance and sophistication
• 🥭 Passion Fruit — tropical, aromatic fruit character providing the primary flavour impression

The passion fruit quality dominates the initial impression—tropical, sweet, complex, with that distinctive aromatic intensity passion fruit brings. Violet florals weave throughout, those perfumed notes adding layers of sophistication and preventing the fruit from becoming one-dimensional. The blood orange acidity provides structure—it's citric and bright, but refined rather than aggressive, juicy rather than sharp.

The body is smooth and silk-like, that glucose-based sugar composition creating a luxurious mouthfeel that's characteristic of well-processed Pink Bourbon. The acidity is stable and citric, providing brightness without sourness. The finish is clean and long, with those violet florals extending beautifully alongside lingering tropical fruit sweetness.

This lot demonstrates what small-scale, quality-focused Pink Bourbon production can achieve. The Aguilera family's three-generation operation, with its single hectare of Pink Bourbon receiving meticulous care, has produced coffee that's genuinely special—nuanced, delicate, and endlessly interesting to drink.

What is the roast recency?

Mirra doesn't advertise a roast preference to Filter or Espresso. That being said, Mirra typically roast nordic-style light, meaning Mirra is best for bright and acidic filter with floral aroma and modern espresso.

We recommend brewing with beans that are at least two weeks off roast. All beans are roasted to peak flavour at around 8-12 weeks. We have the option to either purchase standard beans (at least 2 weeks but no longer than 6 weeks off roast), or rested beans (at least 7 weeks off roast, no longer than 12). For peak flavour, if you are looking to use immediately, we recommend purchasing the rested beans. If you are adding to your rotation of beans, we recommend purchasing the standard and allowing the beans to naturally rest and mature whilst you rotate through other beans.