Wilson Alba

Wilson has lived and worked with his brother Jose on their farm Finca Sierra Morena for 17 years. The farm is about eight hectares, but about half is planted with coffee. This past year, I have tasted Pink Bourbon, Pacamara and Tabi from Wilson, and all three varieties have been outstanding.

I’ve always been a big fan of coffees from Palestina. Since the push of Juan Valdez and the Colombian marketing machine in the 1980’s, most of Colombia’s coffee producers have replanted their farms with highly productive and hearty coffee varieties. They grow these varieties in high density, removing nearly all the shade from their farms, and they use agrochemicals more frequently. In contrast, the small region of Palestina, situated in the southern part of the department of Huila, still maintains some of the coffee varieties and shade trees that gave Colombia its original coffee fame.

This coffee is a Pink Bourbon that has gone through a double anaerobic fermentation. It’s a very small lot, so Wilson fermented it 30 hours in cherry form in a barrel, then he depulped it, and fermented the coffee in the same barrel but now in mucilage form (again for 30 hours). After the second fermentation, he fully washed the coffee and dried it on raised beds. The double anaerobic fermentation washed method is super effective with pink bourbon and, when done well, always results in a highly expressive cup, yet super clean.

Pink Bourbon was long believed to be a hybrid between Yellow and Red Bourbon. But recent genetic testing debunked this theory and have proven that Pink Bourbon actually comes from an Ethiopian landrace variety. My experiences cupping Pink Bourbon also support these genetic findings - I find the profile to be more exotic - it stands out from the more traditional Colombian varieties and resembles traits of Geishas, Ethiopian, and Kenyan coffees.