Colombia
Huila
Felix Samboni
La Tijuana
Pink Bourbon
Washed
September–November; April–May
Lemon, Panela, Juicy
1830 meters
N/A
70 kg w/ GrainPro
SOLD OUT
La Tijuana is located in the municipality of Palestina, one of the most productive coffeelands in the South of Huila, just 40 minutes away from the city of Pitalito. The region has developed recognition in specialty coffee thanks to its proximity to Pitalito, which has relatively well-developed infrastructure and easy access to the highest mountains where the climate plays a significant role in coffee production. Producers from this area have always placed in the top ten in regional coffee contests and many have been among the finalists in international contests as well. Felix Samboni is working to be the next among them.
Felix has been producing coffee for over 40 years with passion and dedication. He began with a small farm called El Diamante, located 3 km away from La Tijuana. There he built a house with a tiny wet mill to process just enough coffee to make a living and for family consumption. His two daughters and wife have as much passion for coffee as Felix himself, so coffee has always been a family business. Even now as both daughters own and manage their own farms, they still contribute and help to support their father’s work.
La Tijuana is eight hectares total with three hectares of virgin natural forest reserve and five hectares planted with Castillo, Colombia, Caturra, and Pink Bourbon varieties. All coffee harvested from La Tijuana is taken to the El Diamante wet mill where it is processed and dried.
This lot of Pink Bourbon underwent Washed processing. Whole cherries are fermented for 48 hours in 40 kg batches in plastic sacks. The cherries are then pulped and the pulped seeds are fermented for another 24 hours. Following this second fermentation, the coffee is washed with spring water and then dried in parabolic dryers for 20 days.
The Colombian Department of Huila is located in the southern portion of the country where the Central and Eastern ranges of the Andes mountains converge. Huila’s capital city of Neiva is dry, flat, and desert-like, markedly different from the coffee regions further south.
Centered around the city of Pitalito, Huila’s coffee farms are predominantly smallholder owned and over the past ten years have made concerted efforts to produce specialty coffee that reveals the full character of the region’s terroir. Selective manual harvesting, attentive processing, and careful post-harvest sorting all contribute to increasing recognition of the region.
Huila’s Departmental coffee committee, the local connection to the national Colombian Coffee Growers Federation, has invested notable resources into training producers in everything from fertilization to roasting. This, combined with producer enthusiasm, has created a regional culture of quality-focused production.
Huila holds important historic significance dating back to pre-Columbian cultures. The archeological site at San Agustin includes a large number of stone carvings, figures, and artifacts that offer a rare glimpse into the land’s past prior to colonialism.
