Colombia | Huber Mendez

Huber Mendez manages the farm Villa Maritza, named after his wife, whose family they inherited the land from. The farm sits at 1,920 MASL in the town of El Triunfo in Ricabrisa, Tarqui. This is a separation of Pink Bourbon harvested from August 4th-8th 2025. This lot is incredible - with high flavor intensity and great sweetness. We taste a range of fruit flavors like raspberry jam, lush rose hips, hibiscus, lime and mango.

Huber grew up in the municipality of El Pital, where his family managed farms with some coffee and other crops. As he grew, he traveled all around Huila working on farms during harvest. He ended up in Tarqui, where he met his wife, Maritza. They inherited a parcel of land when they married and, in time, planted Pink Bourbon. After years of attempting specialty coffee with no access to a market, Huber gave up and instead sold his coffee en verde to the local market. In 2024, the mayor of Ricabrisa told Huber about Monkaaba and invited him to learn more about the project. He prepared samples of his parchment and brought them to Monkaaba, which were incredible. This marks his second year selling under his own name, and it's an honor to share it again.

Cherries are picked at peak ripeness every 15 days and de-pulped the day of harvest. Each day's pickings are added to the existing mass for a total of three days. Afterwards the entire mass is left to ferment for an additional 24 hours. The seeds are then washed, left to drain for 12 hours and moved to drying beds where they dry for 15-20 days.