Betulia, Huila, Colombia

About

Luis is a 2nd generation coffee farmer and has been working in this field for over 40 years now. But it hasn’t always been plane sailing for Luis.

Back in 2011, Luis was at serious risk of losing his farm to the bank. At that point, he was mainly selling his coffee on the C-market and the price he was receiving was barely enough to cover the cost of production, let alone repay the loan he had taken out to purchase land to extend the size of his coffee farm. It was at this point Luis  pproached his local town’s Specialty Coffee Association. They were willing to pay 15% above the C-price, not enough to truly reward Luis for the extra effort required to produce specialty grade coffee but enough to sustain Luis and drive him to explore this avenue of the industry further. As a result, in 2012 he planted 5,000 Gesha trees and after waiting an arduous three years for the trees to bear fruit, Luis was converted.

In 2015, Luis decided to embark on the mission to convert his entire farm to exotic coffee varieties. Now, more than five years since
that decision, Luis’s farm Finca Villa Betulia is a beacon for specialty coffee production in Acevedo, Huila. On his farms you will find all sorts of exotic varieties including Red Gesha, Tabi, Red Bourbon, Yellow Bourbon, Java, Sidra, Striped Bourbon, Chilli Bourbon, Caturra, Typica, Maragogype, Pacamara, Marageisha, Pink Bourbon, Papayo, Caturron, Liberica, Variedad Colombia, Castillo, Red Leaf, Red Bourbon, Dwarf Gesha, Pink Gesha, Yellow Gesha, Wush Wush, Dwarf Yellow Bourbon, Mokka and Maracaturra.

The Crop

This coffee was grown by Luis Anibal Calderon at the farm Villa Betulia. This coffee is harvested following strict ripeness criteria,floated and hand-sorted to remove any defects. Cherries were then exposed to 30 hours of underwater fermentation before being pulped.The parchment was then gently washed and then dried in temperaturecontrolled conditions until ideal moisture content was achieved.

This micro-lot is 100% Pink Bourbon. This varietal is currently under research in order to determine its origin. It is said that it is a mutation
that took place at 2100 m.a.s.l in San Adolfo, Huila.