We were introduced to Misael Ochoa during our visit to San Vicente this spring, and were impressed by this 100% Bourbon separation. In the cup we find soft florality, raspberry, and brown sugar.
Bourbon
Santa Bárbara
1,500 masl
June, 2023
Hand-picked at peak ripeness. Floated. Dry fermented for 22 hours. Manually washed four times with clean water. Dried on raised beds for 15 days.
We were introduced to Misael and his coffees through our exporting partner Benjamin Paz at San Vicente in Santa Bárbara. We were particularly impressed with this Bourbon separation, and we look forward to seeing how his coffees perform in the future!
Bourbon is the most famous of the Bourbon-descended varieties. It is a tall variety characterized by relatively low production and excellent cup quality, but is susceptible to all the major coffee plant diseases. In the early 1700s, French missionaries carried Bourbon from Yemen to Bourbon Island (now Réunion), giving it the name it has today. The variety spread to other parts of the world, beginning in the mid-1800s, as the missionaries moved to establish footholds in Africa and the Americas. Today, in Latin America, Bourbon has largely been replaced by varieties that descend from it—notably Caturra, Pacas, Catuai, and Mundo Novo—although Bourbon itself it is still cultivated in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Peru.
The cost of getting a coffee from cherry to beverage varies enormously depending on its place of origin and the location of its consumption. The inclusion of price transparency is a starting point to inform broader conversation around the true costs of production and the sustainability of specialty coffee as a whole.