Hugo Gualaco

Hugo carefully prepares every lot he collects. This year we decided to preserve his lots as he recommended and enjoy their uniqueness and distinctiveness. This Pink Bourbon was picked, sorted by floating from bad cherries and hand sorted to ensure there were no half-ripe or overripe cherries. It was then de-peeled and fermented for 36 hours without air. The coffee was then washed and slowly dried in the traditional way for 15 days.

Hugo carefully prepares every lot he collects. This year we decided to preserve his lots as he recommended and enjoy their uniqueness and distinctiveness. This Pink Bourbon was picked, sorted by floating from bad cherries and hand sorted to ensure there were no half-ripe or overripe cherries. It was then de-peeled and fermented for 36 hours without air. The coffee was then washed and slowly dried in the traditional way for 15 days. The only difference from the previous lot was a slight time gap in processing. Even this small difference resulted in a different flavor profile and it is this lot that we wanted to preserve for you as well.

Hugo managed this Honey treat this time. He decided to process his favorite variety of Pink Bourbon as Honey. He let the ripe, sorted cherries ferment in sealed bags for 36 hours. This was followed by de-peeling the cherries and another 48 fermentations, again without air. After that, the coffee went into traditional covered kilns where it slowly dried for 20 days.

Hugo doesn’t just do classic washed coffees, he also enjoys natural processing. He offered us just one such lot during the last harvest and we liked it very much. This is again a Pink Bourbon variety that was fermented anaerobically for 150 hours in plastic bags. Of course, it was important to select, by hand, only ripe cherries and to avoid slightly under-ripe cherries. After fermentation, the cherries went straight on to drying and were dried for about 20 days.

Hugo doesn’t just do classic washed coffees. He also enjoys natural processing and he offered us one such lot during the last harvest and we liked it very much. This is again the Pink Bourbon variety, which was fermented anaerobically for 150 hours in plastic bags. Of course, it was important to select, by hand, only ripe cherries and to avoid slightly under-ripe cherries. After fermentation, the cherries went straight on to drying and were dried for about 20 days.

This lot was processed similarly to the previous two Pink Bourbon lots. However, the big difference is in the variety. Ombligon is a local mutation of Bourbon or Caturra, which has a characteristic shape with a small protruding “belly button” at the end of the coffee cherry. In taste, this coffee is very exotic, often containing notes of paprika and especially chilli peppers. It is no different with this lot processed using the natural method, which has brought out these flavours a little more. The cherries were anaerobically fermented for 162 hours after hand-picking, then dried using the traditional method for a further 20 days.

Bourbon Rosado is a popular Colombian coffee variety, producing sweet and large cherries that are wonderfully fruity and creative in flavor. This lot is no exception. The Bourbon coffee trees are 6 years old and are a fairly new planting on the farm. Harvesting was again done by hand every ten days during the harvest season. The Hugo family concentrates only on equally ripe cherries. Immediately after harvest, the coffee is sealed in GrainPro bags with no air access, where it is fermented for 150 hours. It is then washed and dehulled. The beans then spend 25 to 30 days drying in an Elva dryer. After drying, Hugo allows the coffee to stabilize for at least 4 weeks before the beans are finally de-husked in a dry mill, thus increasing the stability of the loti, the balance of flavors and the better characteristics of the coffee.

Manual harvesting, hand selection of ripe cherries, sorting in water to select out unripe or bad grains, followed by washing of the cherries, fermentation in the cherry hopper for 12 hours, cleaning in the morning with a wet grain mill. This is followed by dry fermentation in a vat for 36 hours, from where the coffee goes to the drying room.

Hand harvesting, manual selection of ripe cherries, sorting in water to filter out unripe or bad grains, followed by washing of the cherries, fermentation in cherries for 60 h in a plastic bag, lightly run through the mill and from there to the drying room.

Hand harvesting, hand selection of ripe cherries, sorting in water to filter out unripe or bad grains, followed by washing the cherries, fermentation in the cherry 150h in a plastic bag, cherry lightly run through the mill and from there to the dryer.

Hand harvesting, hand selection of ripe cherries, sorting in water to filter out unripe or bad grains, followed by washing the cherries, fermentation in the cherry 70h in a bag and from there to the drying rooms or dryer.

In this lot, which Hugo called “spring”, only ripe cherries were selected and processed. The coffee cherry was washed of its skin and pulp and then left to ferment for 36 hours. It was then washed again and left to dry in the traditional drying ovens on the coffee farm.

This lot of Pink Bourbon Hugo was fermented for 60 hours in cherry. The coffee was then cleaned and left to oxidise for 12 hours. Next, the coffee was dried on the farm in partial shade.