Girl PIRATE RUM

Tastes Like — 🥥 Spiced Coconut Rum  • 🍫 Milk Chocolate Pralines • 🌴 Tropical

DETAILS

• Farmer: Jhoan Vergara
• Farm: Finca Las Flores
• Region: Huila, Colombia
• Varietal: Chiroso, Caturra
• Process: Washed Anaerobic – Thermal Shock
• Altitude: 1,750 MASL
• Harvest: June 2025
• Size: 200g

INTRO

The Girl Pirate Rum Barrel edition has sailed in from Finca Las Flores in Huila, Colombia — and she's carrying quite a cargo. Farmed by Jhoan Vergara, one of the most innovative producers in the Huila region, this anaerobic thermal shock washed lot of Chiroso and Caturra has been crafted to evoke the spirit of Caribbean rum: coconut sweetness, tropical warmth, exotic spice, and a milk chocolate finish that makes the whole thing dangerously drinkable. A higher acidity adds liveliness and balance, keeping the flavour from becoming heavy. A limited edition that lives up to its piratical billing.

THE PRODUCER

Jhoan Vergara farms Finca Las Flores in Huila at 1,750 metres above sea level — the same altitude zone that has made the broader Pitalito area of Huila one of Colombia's most celebrated specialty coffee regions. Vergara is closely associated with the El Diviso project run by Nestor and Adrian Lasso, and shares their commitment to processing innovation and experimental micro-lot production. Las Flores specialises in anaerobic and thermal shock protocols designed to create specific, character-driven flavour profiles in the cup.

Chiroso is a Colombian variety of particular interest — an elongated, distinctive bean that produces a markedly floral and fruit-forward profile distinct from the more common Caturra. Combined with Caturra for body and balance, this blend of varieties gives Vergara a canvas perfectly suited to the theatrical flavour ambitions of the Girl Pirate Rum process.

THE PROCESS

The Washed Anaerobic – Thermal Shock process involves:

• 🍒 Selective hand-harvesting — Only fully ripe cherries from the Las Flores plots are accepted
• 🔧 Depulping — Cherries are depulped to expose the mucilage-covered parchment
• 🧪 Anaerobic fermentation — Depulped beans are sealed in tanks without oxygen, where controlled fermentation builds the tropical, rum-like aromatic complexity
• ❄️ Thermal shock washing — Fermented beans are washed with water at a specific temperature differential — the sudden change seals in volatile aromatic compounds formed during fermentation, locking the rum and coconut character into the parchment layer
• ☀️ Raised-bed drying — Beans dry on African raised beds to completion

The thermal shock stage is what makes this process so distinctive: the rapid temperature change during washing arrests fermentation at a precise moment and fixes the aromatics developed during anaerobic fermentation into the bean. The result is a cup that genuinely evokes Caribbean rum — without a drop of the spirit in sight.

THE CUP

A fun, tropical, and richly aromatic cup that earns its pirate name. Coconut rum opens with warmth and exoticism, supported by a backbone of spice that keeps things interesting. Milk chocolate smooths the finish into something creamy and long-lasting. The higher acidity is lively and pleasant, adding the brightness that prevents the tropical richness from overwhelming. Excellent as both filter and espresso — as espresso, the rum and chocolate notes intensify into something genuinely spectacular.

Flavour Notes

• 🥥 Coconut Rum
• 🌶️ Spice
• 🍫 Milk Chocolate Pralines
• 🌴 Tropical