Hoyos Brothers - Colombia

Vibrant and crisp, tasting like green apple, berry-yoghurt and white chocolate. Creamy body and pink pepper florals.

Origin: Colombia
Region: San Agustín, Huila
Producer: Brothers Sebastian and German Hoyos
Elevation: 1730 - 1830 masl
Variety: Pink Bourbon
Process: Washed

Roasted for: Filter

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Our collaboration with Semilla and the Monkaaba grower power initiative based in San Agustin, keeps on growing deeper and the brothers Hoyos amazing Pink Bourbon lot is sourced through them. 

Cherries are collected at peak ripeness every 15 days and are floated before being left 24 hours in a wooden hopper. They are then depulped and left dry in a tiled tank for another 26 hours, the mass being moved every six hours. The seeds are then washed and left to drain for 12 hours in the tank before being moved to the solar dryer where they dried over a period of 15 - 20 days.

Sebastian, 23, and German, 29, grew up in close proximity to coffee growing as their parents would wake in the mornings to collect cherries at neighboring farms, navigating steep mountainsides and river crossings on their way to and from work each day. So, while the Hoyos brothers didn’t grow up in a coffee farm themselves, they were always dreaming of the idea of having their own farm for their family one day.

Sebastian, being the younger brother, joined later in this project of pursuing the purchase of land but his own story in coffee began when he was in elementary school, as he would alternate between picking coffee and going to school, eventually reducing his school schedule to the weekends only so that he could pick coffee all week with German, allowing them to better support themselves while also saving the money to invest in their own farm.

Ten years ago when he was only 19 years old, German bought one hectare of land in partnership with an aunt and they planted a variety known as San Bernardo - a native Typica mutation that has a limited quality ceiling. “In these days, I’d never even heard of specialty coffee, German says of his decision to plant this variety.

By 2016, German had the chance to buy his first own piece of land but found himself in a bad financial situation. Driven by his desire to run his own coffee farm, he took out a bank loan and sold his prized motorcycle in order to put forward a down payment on the land and claim it as his own. This decision was a very difficult one as motorcycles for smallholders serve as their main means of transportation and he had worked for many years to save the money to purchase it.

Even with the sale of the motorcycle and the bank loan, he didn’t have enough money to begin planting coffees so the land lay dormant for quite some time. 

In hindsight, German is happy that he wasn’t able to do so because it meant they didn’t continue planting San Bernardo or other low quality varieties. While he was again saving money to begin planting the farm, he and Sebastian began to hear about a variety that was both high producing in cold areas and produce a quality cup - Pink Bourbon. They found a local seed vendor who had already germinated 4,000 plants from Pink Bourbon seeds brought from San Adolfo in Acevedo, often considered the birthplace of the Pink Bourbon variety, and they planted these in 2019.

By now, the two brothers were dealing with large debts and attempted to make some quick money by working in the city, leaving their recently planted farm to their family. Sebastian moved to San Agustin proper, while German went all the way to Bogota where he worked briefly in a large open air market known as Carabastos outside the city. Both of them quickly realized that they did not like the urban pace of life and decided to return to the farm in 2020. Alongside their family, they returned to their roots and continued collecting cherries on neighboring farms while also tending to their new crops.

Early in 2023, Sebastian appeared at the Monkaaba bodega and silently participated in the open cupping sessions there. La Palmita is a distant vereda from San Agustin proper and his appearance was mysterious for Esnaider and team. He would continue to pass by every few weeks until he finally returned with a sample of his Pink Bourbon.

Smallholders like Sebastian are who Monkaaba and Semilla were designed to support -producers who live off of coffee and also live for it, who have limited opportunities and support, but have all the willingness and ability to operate in the specialty coffee market as long as someone is able to support them in the early steps of the process.