PRE-ORDER

This is a very-limited-edition coffee. We are pre-selling bags now and will roast and ship them beginning on Monday, November 24th. 

A couple months ago, our roaster colleague David came by the office to introduce us to Felipe, a Colombian exporter, and cup some samples. There was more than one that was really special, but for me the cups that stood out on the table were those produced by Luz Helena Salazar, Felipe's mom. 

A native of Armenia in Quindío, where this nanolot coffee originates, Ms. Salazar has been growing coffee for twenty years. She specializes in exotic varietals and unusual ferments. Pink Bourbon, despite its name,¹ was recently identified by genetic testing as an Ethiopian landrace. 

That background comes through in La Leona's unusual, bold fruitiness. Blackberry and white grape up front are followed by baking spice and caramel, with round body, bright acidity, and grapefruit aromatics on the finish. 

This coffee is a light roast. 

Makes a great gift for the coffee lover in your life, or go ahead and treat yourself. 

Grab a bag before it's gone!


¹I've always said product listings really need more historical footnotes. In coffee we say "Boor-BONE" more or less like the House of Bourbon because this varietal descends from plants cultivated on the island of Réunion, east of Madagascar. The island was called Bourbon in the 17th and 18th centuries, before a post-Revolution name change. The French military acquired coffee seedlings from Yemeni Imam Al-Mahdi Muhammed on behalf of the French East India Company—exporting coffee seeds from Yemen was illegal, so the diplomatic mission presumably had gone really well. Some twenty plants survived the voyage to Réunion. In the 19th-century the cultivar was exported to South America via Brazil, where it became very popular due to its higher yield, relative to Typica. You can look at this free map from World Coffee Research to see what cultivars descend from Bourbon.