*We roast every Tuesday. All orders placed before Monday 11:59pm (AEST) will be roasted and fulfilled that Tuesday. All orders placed after that will be roasted the following week.
Country - Colombia
Region - Pitalito, Huila
Producer/s - José Salazar
Washing Station - on the farm
Processing - Extended Washed
Varietal/s - Bourbon Aruzi
Altitude - 1750 MASL
Harvest - Feb 2026
Flavour Notes - Apricot Jam, dark cherry, vanilla
José Herman Salazar grows coffee with his family at La Guaca, near Pitalito in southern Huila. He bought the farm in 2001 and originally planted Caturra, before gradually moving towards specialty coffee and becoming increasingly curious about what was already growing around him.
That curiosity eventually led to Ají. José noticed a small number of trees whose ripe cherries had a strange, sweet chilli-like aroma. He separated them, propagated the seeds and began producing the coffee on its own. He called it Bourbon Ají — ají meaning chilli in Spanish — although genetic testing later found that it isn't a Bourbon at all. Its genetics point instead towards an Ethiopian landrace, somehow finding a home in southern Colombia.
In 2021 José entered the variety into Colombia's Cup of Excellence, where it finished sixth with 89.32 points. Since then Ají has slowly spread through Huila, but La Guaca remains an important part of where its story began.
For us, the interesting part isn't really its rarity. It's that a farmer noticed something different growing amongst his trees, paid attention to it, and followed that curiosity far enough to uncover an entirely new expression of Colombian coffee.
Espresso Recipe: 1:3 ratio
In: 20 grams dry dose
Out: 60 grams beverage weight output
Time: Contact time of 30+ seconds
Filter Recipe: 1:17 ratio
In: 20 grams dry coffee
Out: 330 grams brewing water
Time: 3:00-3:30 minutes
