Colombia, La Piragua (Microlot)

Blackberry hits first and hits hard, deep and jammy the way only a natural process delivers. Mango softens it into something tropical, and a red wine quality gives the whole cup weight and structure. Hibiscus lingers on the finish, floral and just tart enough to keep you reaching for the next sip. We brought this one in for summer specifically — the blackberry and hibiscus felt right for the season here in North Alabama, when everything is blooming and ripe at once. It's built for pourover, where the florals get room to open up. We've also been pulling it as espresso, and it makes a fruity, aromatic shot worth trying.

FLAVOR: Blackberry, Mango, Hibiscus, Red Wine

BODY: Light and Bright

ROAST LEVEL: Light

La Piragua sits at 1,800 meters in Huila, Colombia, where Arley Vargas farms alongside his father, Alexander. Beyond their own harvest, the Vargas family runs their wet mill as a hub for neighboring growers who don't have processing facilities of their own, and women in the community handle much of the cherry selection and picking — work that supports a lot of local families. This coffee is a microlot, meaning a small, separately-kept batch from a single farm, cultivar, and harvest window. Keeping it separate is what preserves this much character. The cultivar is Bourbon Rosa, or Pink Bourbon, and despite the name it isn't a Bourbon at all: genetic testing in 2023 confirmed it as an Ethiopian landrace, a wild variety that somehow found its way to Colombia. Processed as a natural, dried whole in the cherry before mechanical husking.

ORIGIN: Colombia, Huila

FARM: Vargas Family

ALTITUDE: 1800 MASL

VARIETY: Pink Bourbon

PRODUCTION METHOD: Natural