COLOMBIA LA GRANADA #2805

"In the hills of Acevedo, Huila, Don Gabriel Castaño Buendía built a legacy that forever changed the landscape of Colombian coffee. Known as southern Huila's "godfather of Pink Bourbon", Don Gabriel was among the first to discover, plant, and share this extraordinary variety, at a time when leaf rust was devastating traditional Caturra crops. What began as a single seedling on his farm, La Granada, grew into a movement: one that spread across the region and inspired countless producers to plant Pink Bourbon, creating some of the most remarkable coffees we know today. But his path was never easy. He lived through Colombia's turbulent economic opening in the 1990s, when coffee farmers faced the collapse of the International Coffee Agreement and a volatile market. For a time, like many others, he turned to coca production to survive. Yet as soon as he could, he chose coffee again: his true calling. With patience and faith, he replanted his land with Pink Bourbon and nurtured it into thriving groves that would support not only his family, but also his wider community. Don Gabriel and his wife, Carmen, raised six children, all of whom eventually followed in their parents' footsteps into coffee, among them, Jeferson, who now gives name to this coffee. Their two-hectare farm, La Granada, became the family's heart, and over the years, Don Gabriel also opened San Adolfo, another three-hectare plot nearby.

Unfortunately, Don Gabriel passed away very recently, leaving behind an absence in his family, but also a lifetime of wisdom, humor, resilience, and love for coffee. Those who knew him remember a joyful and timid man with a jet-black mustache, a warm smile. Though he could no longer drink coffee in his later years, he often said he would not trade his life with anyone. Today, his son Jeferson is taking up the torch. With deep respect for his father's work, Jeferson now leads the family farms and continues cultivating Pink Bourbon with the same dedication and care of his father's. For us, it is both an honor and a responsibility to continue working alongside the Castaño family, ensuring that Don Gabriel's spirit lives on in every harvest. It's also worth mentioning that his impact lives on not only in the cup or his family, but also in the hands of the neighbors and friends he helped sharing seeds, many of whom are now partner producers in international specialty markets. So, we truly hope you enjoy this Pink Bourbon, its various notes of basil, sugar cane, milk caramel, tangerine juice, light florals, green apple, and chocolate truffle, born from the more than 10,000 trees that flourish at La Granada, many of them still carrying the roots of the very first seeds Don Gabriel cultivated years ago and so generously shared."