Jhon Samboni Pink Bourbon Anaerobic FW

Producer Jhon Samboni purchased Finca Santa Barbara in 2019. His focus on high quality cultivation and processing is evident in the cup, which is fruity and sweet with notes of stone fruit.

When he’s not producing excellent lots like this one, Jhon has a vibrant Youtube channel where he sings Vallenato and Norteño (popular local music) for his many followers.

In addition to coffee, Jhon also cultivates yucca, avocado, tomato, sugarcane and peas.

Coffee is selectively handpicked and then sealed in airtight containers to ferment for 70 hours. Following fermentation, cherry is pulped and washed in clean water. Jhon lays coffee to dry on marquesinas, parabolic dryers on the roof of his house. Jhon rakes parchment frequently to ensure even drying. It takes approximately 20 days for coffee to dry.

Pink Bourbon was previously thought to be a hybrid of Yellow and Red Bourbon varieties. The variety was first identified growing in and around Huila, Colombia. Recent research has found that Pink Bourbon is in fact not Bourbon at all. Pink Bourbon mostly likely comes from an Ethiopian landrace variety.

Pink Bourbon has a stunningly high cup potential that wows coffee professionals and consumers alike. Its impressively high cup quality makes even more sense now that we understand Pink Bourbon is not simply a hybrid of two Bourbon varieties but traces to Ethiopian landraces. Its siblings include the highly-prized Geisha, which has consistently produced incredibly high cup scores. Pink Bourbon will continue to be a highly distinguished and valued variety.

Some farmers also report that Pink Bourbon has more disease resistance than the Bourbons it grows alongside. Based on these new discoveries, this may be due to the genetic variety it has coming from Ethiopian landraces.  

The Huila region is one of the most well-known coffee growing areas of Colombia. The Department of Huila has a population of 1.125 million and is located in the southwest of the country. The capital of the department is Neiva, a city of about 380,000.  

Along with Cauca and Nariño, Huila is one the three departments where the Colombian Massif is located. A massif is a group of mountain ranges and the Colombian Massif, which is known locally as Nudo de Almaguer, provides up to 70% of safe drinking and agricultural water for the Colombian population. 

The Magdalena River, Colombia’s largest river, runs through the region, providing plenty of water for coffee farming and generating (directly and indirectly) up to 86% of Colombia's GDP. The mountain range also features the fertile volcanic soil so typical to the Andean Mountains. 

Cuatro Vientos is a family-owned exporter based in Colombia. Founded in 2018 by Julian & Yonatan Gonzalez and based in Huila, the company is named after the Gonzalez’s first farmnwhere the brothers spent much of their childhood.  Yonatan and Julian learned much of what they know from their father, Armando Gonzalez who was a “pergaminero,” someone who bought and sold parchment coffee. Sucafina has worked with Cuatro Vientos since 2021. 

Through their partnership with Sucafina, Cuatro Vientos is able to more effectively reach new markets. This, in turn, means they can work with more farmers and develop better programs to support their farmers.

Cuatro Vientos has 3 purchasing points in Huila: Acevedo, Santa Maria and Algeciras. These points are more than just places where they buy coffee, though. They are service hubs where farmers can access services to maintain quality and reach new markets. For Cuatro Vientos, farmers are long term partners who are focused on quality.

With these three locations, Cuatro Vientos is able to source fresh coffee year-round. In their unique position across Huila, they can tap into two alternative harvest seasons within Huila. The northern Huila harvest occurs in the first half of the year and the southern Huilaharvest happens during the second half of the year, providing high-quality coffees year round.

They also own 2 warehouses that are strategically placed in Acevedo (in Southern Huila) and Campo Alegre (in Northern Huila). The warehouses provide an array of important services to farmers. Farmers can dry their coffee, store dried parchment in silos and learn to grade and evaluate coffees in the cupping labs. 

Cuatros Vientos adds value by offering logistics and milling support to the over 30 farms that they work with. These farmers are all specialty oriented and Cuatro Vientos’ focus on specialty processing helps farmers ensure that their coffees are handled properly.

One of Cuatro Vientos’ biggest impacts is their credit line offerings. Growers need financing at the beginning of the harvest and it is difficult for them to access financing through traditional banks due to a lack of financial documentation. By providing financing through their partner, Bancolombia, Cuatro Vientos is supporting long term farmer profitability. They also provide financial education workshops that increase farmers’ financial literacy and promotes overall success.  

They also provide marketing services for farmers, helping them manage samples and tell their stories. Importantly, they act as an integral part of a two-way conversation between producers and roasters about what they’re looking for, what they can do and how they can best achieve the results they’re looking for.