Divino Niño Pink Bourbon

Producer: La Cooperativa Divino Niño

Country, Region: Colombia, Huila

Variety: Pink Bourbon

Elevation: 1300-1700 masl

Process: Washed

Passenger Coffee - April 2022 Release

This is a beautiful coffee and one that exemplifies the potential quality of the variety known as Pink Bourbon when it is grown, processed and finished with care. The brew greets you with aromas of strawberry and marshmallow and the first taste is fruity and delicate. Fragrant floral hints and a lightly juicy mouthfeel are supported by a tangy fruitiness and pleasant lingering aftertaste. Flavor notes of strawberry, pink lemonade, hibiscus, sun tea, cherry and watermelon fade in and out as it cools with cane sugar on the finish. Watch for more flavors as it cools further: cherry, cocoa powder and tea. The harmonious blend of these flavors and the lightly citric acidity make this an exceptional coffee.

Notes: I brewed this coffee on V60 at 13 days post roast and the Kalita and Origami dripper at 21 days post roast and got excellent results with each. I preferred the V60 for giving the best fruit/acid profile and Origami and Kalita for body/mouthfeel.

This coffee is a 2020 harvest produced by a cooperative of farmers selecting out the Pink Bourbon cherries thus creating a community lot from within a larger coffee collection known to Passenger as Divino Niño. Both the larger lot and this one are on the “Education Lot” menu at Passenger Coffee. Passenger seals and freezes ALL of their green coffee thus they are able to re-release coffees from past crops with the highest degree of quality assurance.

Roaster notes: This particular release, a community lot highlighting the Pink Bourbon variety, is the first time that a coffee from Divino Niño has been presented on Passenger’s Education Lot menu. It represents another application of the general approach we continue to pursue: striving to develop a deeper sourcing partnership by presenting a diverse spectrum of beautiful coffees, across all areas of our menu, that offer our customers and guests an increasingly nuanced portrait of this highly accomplished coffee farming community.

The precise genetic lineage of the Pink Bourbon variety has, as far as we know, not been conclusively established. Some have posited that there are multiple ‘strains’ of Pink Bourbon that may be somewhat distinct from each other and offer significantly different cup profiles. What we can say, at least anecdotally, is that a healthy percentage of the most spectacular Colombian coffees we have tasted recently have been Pink Bourbons. At its best, the variety offers a deep sweetness, piquant acidity, and floral/fruity qualities that support initial evidence indicating that Pink Bourbon is closely related to some sort of Ethiopian landrace variety.

This community blend, composed of small amounts of Pink Bourbon that members of the Divino Niño producer group delivered to the Osito purchasing point, offers a unique opportunity to taste a Divino Niño variety selection alongside our Divino Niño Foundational lot (an example of a “field blend” or mix of different varieties). Enjoying both of these lots side by side affords a comparative exploration of plant genetics that is core to the vision of Passenger’s Education Lot menu.