Clean and expressive with a vibrant tropical fruit character. Passionfruit and lychee drive the cup, supported by a juicy, candy-like acidity. A soft vanilla taffy sweetness carries through the finish, adding roundness and length. Bright, elegant, and beautifully transparent.
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Producer: Julian Calderon
Region: Palestina, Huila, Colombia
Harvest: Fall/Winter 2025
Varietal(s): Colombia Rosado (pink bourbon)
Process: Long fermentation washed
Altitude: 1690 masl
Exporter: La Real Expedición Botánica
Importer: Bold Bean
Agrton Gourmet Color: 108 (light)
Recommended Resting Time: 2-3 weeks
In the hills where the Andes begin to taper into small, family-run farms, the same question always comes up.
What makes a coffee good?
Is it terroir, shaped by soil and elevation?
Is it variety?
Is it processing?
Or is it simply the skill of the producer bringing all of those elements into focus?
Most of the time, it’s a combination. Each factor contributes something essential to the final cup.
Julián is a young producer working within that same framework. His farm grows many of the varietals that, in the hands of more established neighbors, have reached the highest levels of recognition, including Cup of Excellence finals.
But Julián’s coffee stands comfortably alongside them.
The cup is complex and precise, but without excess. Clear, structured, and composed in a way that feels intentional. There’s a modesty to it. Nothing exaggerated, nothing pushed beyond what the coffee naturally wants to express. This is the type of coffee absolutely love to work with and to drink. The cup speaks to varietal, terroir, skill and restraint in the best possible way. Not forcing a coffee to be something it's not but celebrating it for the great thing that it is.
Colombia Rosado is an Ethiopian Landrace varietal hybridized with the Colombia varietal. Oftentimes misnomered as Pink Bourbon. The varietal is grown widely in Huila due to its potential for a high-quality cup profile. Varietal specific characteristics focus on a medium body, medium to high acidity and notes of stone fruit, currant, citrus and other tropical fruits oftentimes accompanied by floral notes.
Julian uses a two stage fermentation process for this coffee. After harvesting fully ripe cherries, Julian rests the coffee in sacks for 24 hours before depulping. This concentrates the sugars and increases acids within the cherries which contributes to more sweetness and complexity in the cup.
Following resting, the coffee is depulped and dry-mass fermented for 48 hours.
After fermentation, the coffee is washed and slowly dried on raised beds for 2-3 weeks.
This processing style enhances vibrancy in the cup while allowing the floral and fruited characteristics to shine through clearly. Julian's coffees are a stunning example of how dedicated agricultural practices, careful processing, high quality coffee genetics and a pristine terroir combine to create beautiful and crystal clear coffees.
Huila is a mountainous region in southern Colombia with a longstanding tradition of and storied reputation for high-quality coffee production. Huila is the epicenter of high-quality coffee production in Colombia. All of the Huila coffees we buy are from farms in and around the small town of Palestina. The area has two harvests a year, a main crop from October to January and a small (fly-crop) from May to July. Most of the producers in the area are small-scale with farms between 1 and 3 hectares. The producers we work with in Palestina are focused on growing high percentages of pure arabica varietals and they use processing methods that highlight both the varietal and terroir. The combination of terroir, varietals grown and processing commonly used by the best producers in this micro-region result in coffees with high and complex acidity, full body and incredible sweetness.
