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 in November–December 2024. This lot is incredible - with high flavor intensity and great sweetness, it was our favorite lot from this Colombia shipment. We taste a range of fruit flavors like raspberry jam, lush rose hips, hibiscus, and pineapple.

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. Last year, 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 first sale under his own name, and it's an honor to share it

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.