Santa Monica

This coffee wasn’t churned out in some anonymous industrial estate — it was grown by Jairo Arcila at Santa Mónica farm in Armenia, Quindío. Jairo knows what he’s doing. Every cherry is picked at its peak, sorted by hand, and then fermented underwater for 30 hours. Not rushed. No corners cut. It’s then pulped, washed gently, and dried under controlled conditions to get the moisture just right.

This isn’t your average cup. It’s a micro-lot made up of 100% Pink Bourbon, a unique varietal still being studied to fully understand its roots. Thought to be a natural mutation that started up in the high-altitude hills of Huila, where things grow slow and rich.

Now let’s talk about Jairo. He’s not just a coffee grower, a third-generation farmer and a former mill manager with 40 years’ experience. He started with one farm while still working full-time. Through determination and a willingness to learn, he boosted his yields by 25%, simply by paying attention and doing the work right. He saw early on that the future was no longer just about volume, it was about quality.

In 2014, despite not being deep into the speciality scene yet, he planted 3,000 Gesha trees — one of the first to do so in the whole region. That was foresight, and it paid off. Since then, he has gone on to own five farms, providing decent jobs to locals and pushing the boundaries of what Colombian coffee can be.

Jairo now works closely with his sons, Carlos and Felipe, through their company Cofinet, building direct relationships between farmers and roasters. No middlemen. No nonsense. This lot is one of Jairo’s own projects — a small-scale, hands-on production where he has been overseeing everything.