Roaster’s Report - Colombia Ildefonso Cordoba Aji

Source: Shared Source

Country: Colombia

Producer: Ildefonso Cordoba.

Don Ildefonso is a member of the Los Guácharos group, and we’ve purchased many lots from him over the years. He currently lives in the town of Bruselas, and his nephew helps and lives at his farm with his family. Ildefonso recently renovated more than 4,000 trees of San Bernardo with many less-common varieties, including pink bourbon, yellow caturra, yellow bourbon, and bourbon aji. He has become a bit of a seed guru with his germinator, distributing seeds to other members of his community. He’s also known as the clown of the Los Guácharos group- he’s funny, sweet, and as an active, involved member, he lifts the spirit of the group significantly. Though he comes from a coffee producing family, he started his farm from scratch, and has managed to bring it to the point where it’s producing great quality coffee- 12 years into his endeavor.

Elevation: 1800m

Coffee variety: Aji Bourbon

Processing: Fully washed

Roast Level: Light

Cupping Score: 88

Coffee description: A new variety that has recently surfaced in Colombia, this coffee strain became popular after it took 6th place at the 2021 Cup of Excellence and has spread since then. This plant has a distinctive pepper like aroma as the coffee cherries are picked, hence the “Aji” naming (Aji is the south American word for chili peppers). A genetic analysis suggested the plants are likely derived from an Ethiopian landrace, so, similar to the pink bourbon, it’s unlikely this is a true bourbon.

If the origins are truly from Ethiopia, it would not surprise us. Our samples tasted very similar to a washed Ethiopian coffee, with high floral characteristics, a zippy, layered acidity, and lots of sweetness.

Green coffee transparency: 154lbs @ $6.00/lb, January 2024. (Commodity coffee price: $1.94/lb. Why is this important? Coffee pricing is complex and multifaceted, and sharing what we paid is an incomplete picture, but we believe in sharing the data we have available, hoping that will embolden others to do the same, with the ultimate goal of getting producers fairer pay for their excellent work.)

Length of Relationship: Shared Source, since 2023.

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If you want to learn more about how we would brew this coffee, click here for our brew guides.