What Is Las Perlitas?

Las Perlitas — Spanish for "Little Pearls" — is a curated lot concept rather than a single-farm product. It represents a collection of small Pink Bourbon harvests from individual smallholder farmers across the Huila department of Colombia, each lot too small to be exported independently but too consistent and high-quality to be blended into anonymous commodity coffee. At the dry mill, each farmer's individual contribution is cupped, evaluated, and selected against a quality threshold of 86 or more points — comparable or superior to most published specialty microlots. The parcels that pass are then combined to form a single, export-sized lot with a profile that reflects the best of Huila's Pink Bourbon terroir.

"Las Perlitas is a combination of small lots from Huila with similar profiles of 86+ points, of similar or better quality than any microlot." — Four Hundred MG

The concept solves a real problem in smallholder coffee production. The most interesting farms in Huila are often tiny — 1 to 3 hectares is common — and a harvest from a single Pink Bourbon plot may amount to only 20 or 30 kilograms of exportable green coffee. No international roaster can build a supply chain around a 30-kilogram lot. But many such lots, sourced from farmers across the same region, growing the same variety under similar conditions and processed to the same standard, can be combined into a commercially viable consignment without compromising cup quality. Las Perlitas makes exceptional Pink Bourbon accessible to the world at a price point that benefits both roasters and producers.

The Region: Huila's Pink Bourbon Heartland

Huila is Colombia's largest coffee-producing department and one of the world's most important origins for specialty lots. The department spans the upper Magdalena River valley, flanked by the Central and Eastern branches of the Colombian Andes, with farms operating across a wide altitude range — from around 1,200 metres in the lower valleys to nearly 2,000 metres on the highest Andean slopes. The volcanic soils, consistent rainfall, and marked temperature variation between day and night create ideal conditions for slow cherry maturation and complex flavour development.

Pink Bourbon found some of its earliest home here, particularly in the southern Huila municipalities — Acevedo, San Adolfo, and the surrounding areas — where it first appeared in the 1980s and gradually spread as farmers recognised its distinctive cup quality and relative resilience. Today, Huila is the primary growing region for Pink Bourbon worldwide, and the variety has become a defining part of the department's specialty identity alongside Chiroso, Ombligon, Sidra, and other Ethiopian-heritage varieties that have made their home in the Andean highlands.

The Variety: Pink Bourbon's Surprising Genetic Story

Pink Bourbon has one of the most compelling — and most surprising — origin stories in contemporary specialty coffee. For decades after its first documentation, the variety was assumed to be a spontaneous hybrid between Red Bourbon and Yellow Bourbon plants, a conclusion drawn from the visual evidence: Pink Bourbon grows among Bourbon plants, has a similar tall and slightly scraggly growth habit, and ripens to a distinctive salmon-pink rather than red or yellow. A local Colombian farmer who first documented the variety called it "Bourbon Rosado" based on exactly this visual logic.

The 2023 RD2 Vision study — the most comprehensive genetic analysis yet conducted on Pink Bourbon — tested four Pink Bourbon samples and one Orange Bourbon sample from different regions. All five were confirmed as Pink Bourbon, and all shared one key finding: their genetics derive from Ethiopian landrace populations, placing Pink Bourbon in the same family as Chiroso, Ombligon, Wush Wush, and Bourbon Aji — a cluster of Ethiopian-origin varieties now found growing across Huila and Cauca.

How did an Ethiopian landrace end up being cultivated as "Bourbon" in Colombia's Huila region? The most plausible theory, according to Cafe Imports' Ian Fretheim, is that Pink Bourbon seeds may have been brought to Colombia specifically to be used as parent stock for hybrid breeding programmes — possibly even misidentified as Gesha from Ethiopia during the seed sourcing process. However it arrived, it has made Colombia its home, and its cup quality is indisputably extraordinary.

Why Washed? Clarity as a Design Choice

Pink Bourbon can be processed in many ways — natural, honey, anaerobic, co-fermented. All produce interesting cups. But the washed Pink Bourbon, as expressed in Las Perlitas, represents a specific philosophy: that the variety's inherent aromatic complexity is best showcased without the additional fermentation influence that natural or experimental processes introduce. Washed processing removes the fruit skin and mucilage quickly and cleanly, allowing the variety's genetics — its distinctive florality, citrus acidity, silky body, and tropical fruit sweetness — to express themselves without fermentation overlay.

The result is a cup of exceptional clarity. Pink Bourbon washed is often described as immediately accessible to specialty coffee drinkers who are not accustomed to funky or process-forward coffees, while remaining complex enough to reward careful attention. The floral notes — lychee, jasmine, stone fruit — are front and centre; the acidity is bright but not sharp; the finish is clean and long.

The Process: Washed Pink Bourbon

1. Selective hand-harvest — only ripe pink cherries are picked; the distinctive salmon-pink colour is the visual indicator of full maturity.
2. Floating and sorting — cherries are floated in water to remove low-density defects; hand-sorted to remove damaged or unripe fruit.
3. Pulping — outer fruit skin removed; beans separated from cherry flesh.
4. Fermentation — beans ferment in water or dry fermentation tanks for 12–48 hours, breaking down the mucilage layer.
5. Washing — thoroughly washed with clean water to halt fermentation and remove all remaining mucilage.
6. Drying on raised beds — beans dry slowly under shade or partial cover, preserving their aromatic complexity. Total drying time 15–25 days depending on climate conditions.
7. Dry milling and quality selection — individual farmers' lots are separately processed, then cupped and combined at the dry mill to form the Las Perlitas composite.

The Roaster Connection: NOMAD Coffee, Barcelona

One of the most prominent roasters associated with Las Perlitas internationally is NOMAD Coffee in Barcelona — founded in 2011 by Barista Champion Jordi Mestre, the roastery has grown from a roving cart into one of Spain's most internationally recognised specialty operations. NOMAD's version of Las Perlitas, roasted for retail and sold through Fellow Products in the US, brought the lot to significant international attention — the Fellow brew guide for the coffee describing notes of lychee, apricot, florals, and silky body remains one of the most read recipe guides on their platform. Multiple other roasters across Europe and North America have featured Las Perlitas as a seasonal offering, each bringing their own roast approach and tasting notes to the same underlying raw material.

Las Perlitas vs Las Perlitas Washed: Two Expressions

Note that BrewFusion carries two separate Las Perlitas lots — this Washed Pink Bourbon (Blog #7 in this series) and a Pink Bourbon Washed lot listed separately (Blog #63). While both carry the Las Perlitas name, they may reflect different harvests, different roaster expressions, or different component selections from the same ongoing project. The Las Perlitas concept is a recurring lot programme rather than a one-time release, with each harvest producing a new composite reflecting the season's best Pink Bourbon smallholder parcels.

Brew Guide

Washed Pink Bourbon rewards clean extraction that lets the florality and citrus lead. Avoid over-extraction — the variety's clarity is its greatest asset and will be lost if pushed too hard.