Bourbon Ají: The Variety With a Spicy Secret

Bourbon Ají — ají means chilli pepper in Colombian Spanish — is one of the most unusual coffee varieties in the world. An Ethiopian-heritage landrace found in Colombia, it produces a distinctive cup characteristic that coffee drinkers encounter nowhere else: a warm, peppery heat sensation on the palate that builds alongside the variety's tropical fruit and floral aromatics. It is not a co-ferment, not a flavoured coffee, not a processing trick — it is a genuine genetic characteristic of the variety's phenolic compounds interacting with the palate's capsaicin receptors in a way no other coffee variety replicates.

Bourbon Ají grows across several Huila farms that have been sourcing Ethiopian landrace genetics, but El Diviso's version — processed with Nestor Lasso's multi-stage anaerobic and thermal shock protocol — is among the most technically refined. Dune Coffee Roasters in the US describes their Las Flores Bourbon Ají (from Jhoan Vergara's neighbouring farm) as delivering "herbal qualities from the Ají variety transforming into juicy passionfruit and cherry." At El Diviso, the thermal shock processing creates additional clarity and structure around the variety's intrinsic spiced character.

"The Bourbon Ají variety underwent cherry oxidation, thermal shock, anaerobic fermentation, and controlled drying — resulting in a boisterous and richly layered cup." — George Howell Coffee

Finca El Diviso in Brief

Finca El Diviso is a 14.5-hectare farm at 1,750 masl near Pitalito, run by Nestor and Adrian Lasso alongside Jhoan Vergara of Las Flores. It has hosted two consecutive World Barista Championship podium coffees — Sidra (WBC 2022 🥇) and Ombligon (WBC 2023 🥉) — and cultivates a portfolio of rare Ethiopian-heritage varieties. For the full farm and producer story, see Blog #3 (Ombligon) and Blog #4 (Sidra). Cata Export handles international distribution.

Roasters Carrying El Diviso & Las Flores Bourbon Ají

Brew Guide