Colombian Bourbon Sidra Coffee

A washed micro-lot from Pitalito in southern Huila, made from Sidra, a rare variety prized for its vibrant acidity and perfumed fruit. The cup is mango, lime and peach with a cacao finish.

Origin & Story

Sidra is one of the newer stars of specialty coffee. It is widely believed to have been developed in Ecuador, where growers describe it as a cross between Bourbon and Typica, although genetic tests have also found similarities to Ethiopian heirloom coffees, so its exact ancestry is still debated.

Its reputation grew quickly. It has a vibrant acidity, complex fruit and floral notes and a velvety body, and it has appeared in some of the world's top coffee competitions, including the World Barista Championship. Growers outside Ecuador now plant it too, and some Colombian lots, like this one, are sold as Bourbon Sidra.

Pitalito sits in the south of Huila, in the Magdalena Valley, where the Central and Eastern ranges of the Andes meet. Farms there lie at roughly 1,350 to 1,900 meters, most of Huila's coffee is produced in this area, and the farmers are mostly small-scale and increasingly focused on specialty lots that win awards.

Colombia itself is a country of small farms. The National Federation of Coffee Growers, founded in 1927, represents more than 500,000 producers, most of them small family farms, and in 2011 UNESCO listed Colombia's Coffee Cultural Landscape as a World Heritage Site.

In the cup, expect mango and lime first, then peach, and a silky cacao finish that lingers.

Reading the Flavor Profile

These values are comparative editorial positions within our own catalog, calibrated so entries can be ranked against each other. They are not laboratory measurements.