Marlon Bolaños' Pink Bourbon | Thermal Shock | Sugarcane EA Decaf | Colombia

Marlon Bolaños was 17 when he took a barista course at SENA. He came home and started replanting his family's farm with Pink Bourbon, Geisha, and Chiroso. He's 21 now, running The Three Coffee Farmers in Acevedo, Huila with his brothers Hemerson and Pedro.

This is his Pink Bourbon, picked ripe, sorted by density, fermented in sealed tanks, then thermally shocked to arrest the ferment, washed, and decaffeinated with sugarcane EA.

The cup leads with orange cream soda. Soft citrus, round sweetness, a creamy finish. Pink grapefruit sharpens the acidity. Guava fills in the middle and carries through.

Note: Due to decaffeination, this coffee may appear darker on the exterior even when roasted lightly. Exterior color does not always reflect roast development.

Origin Details

• Producer: Marlon Bolaños
• Farm: The Three Coffee Farmers
• Region: Acevedo, Huila, Colombia
• Altitude: 1,670 meters
• Variety: Pink Bourbon
• Process: Washed anaerobic, thermal shock
• Decaffeination: Sugarcane (EA)
• Harvest: September to November
• Resting Time: 2-4 days

Roast Level

Light

Flavor Notes

• Orange Cream Soda
• Pink Grapefruit
• Guava

Processing Method

Harvest & Selection
Cherries are hand-picked at peak ripeness and sorted by density to remove floaters and defects before processing begins.

Sealed Tank Fermentation
The cherries are depulped immediately and fermented in closed tanks for 24 hours. Limiting oxygen slows fermentation down and pushes the coffee toward tropical fruit and floral aromatics rather than heavier fermented character.

Thermal Shock
Fermentation is stopped with a controlled temperature shift instead of being left to run its course. The change arrests microbial activity at a chosen point, holding the fruit esters and floral aromatics in place. This is the step that separates a structured, tropical Pink Bourbon from one that drifts into heavy ferment, and it is why this cup reads so clean.

Washing
The coffee is then washed thoroughly to strip off remaining mucilage, locking in the clarity that carries through to the cup.

Drying
The parchment dries on raised sun beds for seven to eight days until it reaches 11% moisture.

Sugarcane (EA) Decaffeination
Green coffee is decaffeinated using ethyl acetate derived from fermented sugarcane. The solvent binds selectively to caffeine and is flushed out with steam, leaving the sugar and acid structure of the bean largely intact. It is the reason this lot still tastes like Pink Bourbon after decaffeination. Trace caffeine remains, as it does in all decaf.

Why You Will Love It
Pink Bourbon character that survives decaffeination intact Orange cream soda sweetness with real grapefruit acidity behind it Sealed tank fermentation and thermal shock for tropical fruit depth without funk Sourced from a 21-year-old producer building a specialty hub in Acevedo 

About Marlon Bolaños
Coffee was the family livelihood before it was the family ambition. Marlon changed that. After training in brewing, green grading, and sensory analysis, he and his brothers started replanting their 10 hectares with differentiated varieties and building out their own processing. Pink Bourbon, Geisha, Chiroso, Castillo, and Caturra all grow there now. Marlon runs quality control, fermentation protocols, and sampling. The goal is a specialty hub in Acevedo, and this lot is a good argument that they're getting there.

Resting Time: 2-4 days