Swerl Coffee Roasters - José del Mar Honey Bourbon | Colombia

Colombia — José del Mar Ordoñez Bourbon Pimienta (Honey Processed)

Tastes Like — 🍎 Candied Apples • 🍇 White Grapes • 🥛 Condensed Milk • 🌿 Herbal

DETAILS

• Producer: José del Mar Ordoñez ("Don Aldemar")
• Region: La Esperanza, San Agustín, Huila, Colombia
• Varietal: Bourbon Pimienta
• Process: 90h Fermented, Honey Processed
• Elevation: 1,850–1,900 masl

INTRO From José del Mar Ordoñez — known to everyone as Don Aldemar — comes the very first Bourbon Pimienta harvest from the Monkaaba group, and his first coffee exported abroad under his own name. Exciting and flavourful, with candied apple and white grape sweetness, a condensed milk richness, and sweet herbal notes running throughout. In the cup: candied apples, white grapes, condensed milk, and herbal.

THE PRODUCER Don Aldemar's path to coffee has been shaped by persistence. Born in Los Robles, Colombia, he grew up on a small family farm where coffee played only a minor role. After planting his first coffee trees on land he didn't own, the farm was sold out from under him, forcing him to start over. He spent years travelling between regions as a harvest picker before joining a bare-pasture project in La Esperanza in 2016, building a farm from nothing — battling die-back disease along the way — and later expanding into catimor and a small trial of pink bourbon that encouraged him to keep going.

His curiosity led him to honey processing, even though most producers in the Monkaaba group work exclusively with washed coffee. He remains the only producer in the group doing so — a risky choice, since local buying points typically pay only for washed lots, leaving little market for coffee that doesn't sell. Through the Semilla channel, he's found a more stable outlet for this work, and access to Bourbon Pimienta through local seed banks has let him diversify further, culminating in this, his first export lot under his own name.

THE PROCESS Ripe cherries are harvested every three weeks, with the plants resting two weeks between pickings. The cherries are fermented in a tiled tank for 90 hours, then pulped and dried with full mucilage on the parchment for 22 to 25 days.

The extended 90-hour fermentation combined with full-mucilage drying is the defining step — it's what builds the candied apple and condensed milk richness that sits over Bourbon Pimienta's naturally clean, grape-like character.

THE CUP Rich and exciting — candied apple and white grape sweetness up front, a condensed milk creaminess through the middle, and sweet herbal notes lingering on the finish. A hard-won first export lot, and a distinctive one.

Flavour Notes 🍎 Candied Apples 🍇 White Grapes 🥛 Condensed Milk 🌿 Herbal