ROAST | LIGHT MEDIUM

ORIGIN | QUINDIO, ARMENIA, COLOMBIA

NOTES | TART CHERRY, BLUE RAZZ, ORANGE ZEST, DARK CHOCOLATE

Sebastian Gomez is quickly becoming a real household name here at Black & White. In the last calendar year alone, his coffees have featured on our menu no less than five times, including as critical components in two of our proudest blends - Happy Birthday Pink Bourbon, and the simply sublime The Future: Champagne New Year.

When it comes to exceptional and experimental processing methods, Sebastian Gomez is a pioneer. He has been perfecting these unique methods on his farm in the southern region of Quindio for years, and what he's done with this natural Pink Bourbon lot is truly remarkable.

Processing: You'll notice at the very first sip that this coffee has been pretty heavily influenced by its processing. Sebastian used a method he calls EF2, or Extended Fermentation, Variation #2. You might be more familiar with a similar approach to processing, called Slow Dried, from Panamanian coffees. EF2 is a unique, multi-fermentation processing method first developed by Felipe and Carlos Arcila, and it has been used here by Sebastian to create a vibrant, fermentation-forward coffee. During this process, the coffee cherries initially go through 24 hours of aerobic fermentation before being sealed in airtight bags and undergoing several stages of anaerobic fermentation. The overall fermentation and drying times are extended well beyond those numbers we normally see, resulting in a coffee that is deliberately funky (though, we'd argue, not toooooo funky).

In the cup: There's a lot going on here! With tasting notes of everything from tart cherry and blue razz to orange zest and dark chocolate, sipping this coffee reminds us of sampling a box of artisan bon bons. The coffee also showcases different flavors as it changes temperature. When hot, for example, it is distinctly boozier in nature. Red fruits take center stage as the coffee begins to cool, and citrus really shines through once the cup has cooled completely. So really, the metaphor mentioned earlier works quite nicely in the end: just like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get. 

Producer | Sebastian Gomez

Farm | Finca La Divisa

Process | Slow Dried Natural

Variety | Pink Bourbon

Elevation | 1700-1750 masl