024 - Luis Edgar Camacho

We anticipate that this coffee will be a subscriber-exclusive roasted for 2026 season subscribers the week of March 2, 2026.

The third coffee of our 2026 season comes to us through the Copa de Oro competition from a long-lost connection—an extended, multi-stage fermentation Pink Bourbon that presents tropical, juicy and bright with notes of black tea, mandarin orange, tamarind, pineapple and red currant.

From Christopher: "Toward the end of last year, using funds from our full season reservations, Aviary sponsored the Copa de Oro competition organized by Osito in Colombia, through which we'd previously purchased coffee for AVIARY#003 and AVIARY#013.

"The annual competition gives producers the opportunity to compete for cash prizes as well as the attention of price-insensitive and quality-oriented buyers. Among the lots submitted was one that did not go on to win but consistently scored 87+ across all rounds from a producer whose name I knew well but whom I’d lost touch with some years before.

"In 2018, I flew to Colombia to replicate a processing experiment I’d first done the year prior with Lino Rodriguez. My in-country agent matched me with a young, promising producer in Palestina named Luis Edgar Camacho who was well-known for his agronomy practices and farm management and who was just beginning to explore how he might be able to employ processing to further elevate his cup quality.

"The farm, La Palma was initially purchased and planted by Luis Edgar's father, but after his passing, care of the land passed to his wife and Luis Edgar. Back then, La Palma grew primarily Castillo and Caturra. By improving the hygiene at his beneficio, extending his fermentation times and reducing the temperatures in his marquee drier, we were able to improve the cup quality of his Castillo from 84 to 87 points. I was encouraged and excited by the results and hoped to continue to buy from him in the future; but then, between my changing relationship with his then-exclusive exporter and interruptions to travel from Covid-19, I lost track of Luis Edgar and his coffees—until they reappeared in the Copa de Oro competition in 2025.

"The year after my visit, Luis Edgar began to renovate his farm, La Palma, planting the cultivar that has defined Palestina’s reputation for quality: Pink Bourbon. Pink Bourbon—a variety distinct from Bourbon that genetic testing has revealed to be, in fact, an Ethiopian landrace—has been a favorite of mine since it first started appearing on my cupping tables back in 2016 or 2017. Renowned not only for its quality potential but also its resistance to roya and productivity, it is has become a favorite for producers in Southern Huila, where it is well-adapted to the elevations and cooler temperatures.

"In 2022, Luis Edgar refined his processing further beyond our work in an effort to further improve cup quality, replacing his tiled, open-air fermentation tanks and wood receiving hopper (which I'd lined with plastic) with cleanable, sealed plastic tanks with an airlock.  

"This lot—my first purchase from Luis Edgar since we lost touch in 2018—represents the pinnacle of those efforts and presents vibrant and tangy in the cup with tropical notes of tamarind, pineapple, mandarin orange, caramel, black tea and red currant."