Hanging with Victor Bermúdez in Colombia
On Scott's recent trip to Colombia, he had one major milestone pinned on the map: traveling down to southern Huila to visit coffee producer Victor Bermúdez.
Earlier this year, we released two microlots from Victor, a Pink Bourbon and a Parainema. Both were exceptional, but the Parainema was something else entirely. It became one of our favorite Queen City releases in a long time and even won a cold brew competition over in London.
We had been working with Victor for a while, trading messages, talking coffee, and getting to know his work from a distance. This trip gave us the first chance to meet him in person and spend time at his family farm, Finca Buenos Aires, in San Adolfo.
Here’s a look back at the visit, the coffees, and why we’re so stoked about where this partnership is headed.
Arriving in San Adolfo
San Adolfo sits high in the Andes mountains of southern Huila, surrounded by steep green hillsides and small family farms. The elevation and microclimate make it an incredible place to grow coffee, so it’s no surprise that some of the most exciting coffees in Colombia are coming out of this area.
Victor’s family farm, Finca Buenos Aires, sits just above the center of town. After spending hours in the car navigating some questionable mountain roads, arriving at Victor’s house was sorely welcomed.
Victor started the visit in the best possible way. He pulled out a bag of his Pink Bourbon that we had roasted back home in Denver and brewed a pot for us to share. I had mailed the bag to him several weeks earlier and assumed it was already long gone. Instead, Victor had saved it for the visit.
Sitting on the porch at Finca Buenos Aires, drinking coffee grown right where we were sitting, shipped to Colorado to be roasted, and then sent all the way back to San Adolfo to be brewed by Victor himself was a pretty killer full-circle coffee moment.
And the coffee was pretty killer too.
Hiking Finca Buenos Aires
The next day was all about hiking around the farm and getting my Blundstones fully muddy.
Victor and his uncle oversee every stage of production at Finca Buenos Aires. The farm has been in the family for generations, but Victor, as the youngest generation, is helping shift its focus from commercial coffee toward specialty production.
That kind of transition does not happen overnight. It requires changing how coffee is grown, selected, harvested, processed, dried, and ultimately sold. It also requires taking some serious risks.
A big part of Victor’s transition at the farm has been about planting distinctive varieties with the potential to produce exceptional coffees, including Pink Bourbon and Parainema. Walking the farm gave me the chance to see these trees up close and better understand the years of work behind the coffees Victor is betting the farm on.
Pink Bourbon in Its Backyard
Pink Bourbon has become one of Colombia’s most celebrated coffee varieties, and the area around San Adolfo has an especially strong connection to it. The variety is widely believed to have first appeared and gained prominence in this part of southern Huila during the 1980s.
The name comes from the distinct salmon-pink color of its ripe cherries. In the cup, Pink Bourbon can be intensely sweet and fruit-forward, with vibrant citrus acidity and delicate floral notes. Victor’s lot that we roasted earlier this year was a quintessential expression of that profile.
Seeing his Pink Bourbon trees healthy and loaded with ripening fruit was awesome. It connected the coffee we had roasted in Denver to a specific hillside randomly here in San Adolfo. But as exciting as the Pink Bourbon was, there was one section of the farm I was especially eager to see.
Finding the Parainema
Parainema has a very different history from Pink Bourbon.
The variety was originally developed in Honduras with resistance to coffee leaf rust in mind. It was designed primarily for farm resilience rather than a reputation for elite cup quality. Parainema is also relatively uncommon in Colombia. That's what makes what Victor is up on Finca Buenos Aires so special. It's a different expression of Huila and shows what can happen when a producer is willing to cultivate something outside the region’s most familiar varieties.
The tiny lot we released earlier this year was one of the most memorable coffees to come across our cupping table in a long time. It was packed with tropical fruit alongside a refreshing herbal sweetness. It was complex and bursting with flavor. The entire harvest amounted to only about 60 kilograms of exportable coffee, which made it especially limited. I might have squirreled some away in my office for a rainy day. Don't tell the boss.
Victor walked me through the Parainema lot and explained how he manages the coffee through each stage of production. He also outlined the process of growing these trees from the Honduran seed stock, and the need to continue to introduce genetic variations to his crop. Walking among these budding trees gave a new appreciation for how young and limited this project still is.
Hanging out on this particular lot with Victor was super cool though. A producer does not always get to see what happens after a coffee leaves the farm. Victor trusted us with a tiny and incredibly special harvest, and being able to share where it traveled, how it was received, and even how it performed in London brought the whole experience full circle.
More Than Good Coffee
As much fun as it was to tour the farm and nerd out about varieties, some of the best parts of the visit had very little to do with coffee.
Victor and I spent a lot of time simply hanging out. Those conversations are difficult to recreate over email, especially across different countries and languages. But it's where real relationships are built.
At Queen City, our goal has always been to develop direct, multi-year partnerships with the people growing our coffee. It is easy to get caught up in tasting notes, packaging, and cafe menus. Those things matter, but at the end of the day, this work is about people.
Visiting Finca Buenos Aires gave me a better understanding of Victor’s farm and the work behind two coffees we already loved. More importantly, it allowed me to connect with Victor as a friend, not simply as a name printed on a coffee bag.
That was the real highlight of the trip and a reminder that the heart of specialty coffee will always be the people behind the cup.
Victor’s newest harvest samples will be hitting our cupping table soon, and we cannot wait to see what comes next. Keep an eye on our menu for more coffees from Colombia, more stories from the trip, and, hopefully, another very special Parainema release from Finca Buenos Aires.
