Alexis Guarnizo / Colombia

Alexis Guarnizo produces coffee with his family in the town of Tarqui, in Colombia’s southern department of Huila. His farm is called Los Lacres. It is located in a small village called El Triunfo, northwest of Tarqui, at an altitude of around 1,750 meters. Together with his wife, Diana Gutiérrez, and their two children, Ladi, aged 10, and Jhon Alexis, aged 6, he has spent many years caring for this roughly two-hectare farm.

Alexis is part of a large family. He has eight brothers and one sister, making nine siblings in total, and each of them runs their own coffee farm around Tarqui. Although each family member owns a separate farm, they work together on cultivation and sales as the Guarnizo family. The eldest brother, Wilmar, is said to be the one who brings everyone together.

This coffee is a Pink Bourbon from Los Lacres.

Pink Bourbon is a variety that produces salmon-pink cherries, neither red nor yellow. Although the name includes “Bourbon,” it comes from the producer who named it, believing it was likely a cross between Red Bourbon and Yellow Bourbon. Recent genetic analysis, however, has shown that it is not actually part of the Bourbon lineage, but rather belongs to an Ethiopian landrace lineage. The pink color of the cherries is thought to come from an intermediate expression of red pigmentation.

This variety is said to have appeared around the San Adolfo area in southern Huila in the 1980s, before spreading mainly throughout Huila. Today, it is known for producing expressive and clean cups, and it is also a variety often seen in coffee competitions.

This coffee reaches us through our export partner Fair Field Trading, a company known for specializing in coffees from Huila and for handling only washed coffees. Founded in 2002, the company is led by Alejandro Renjifo. He previously worked as an economist at the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation, FNC, and the International Coffee Organization, ICO, and also owns a farm in the upper area of San Agustín.

Together with the Japanese importer SYU・HA・RI, Fair Field organizes an event called the Colombia Washed Coffee Festival, or CWCF. Farms submit samples, and selected lots are evaluated blind over several days, with premiums paid to the top-ranking lots. The festival is said to have been created from the idea of shining a fresh light on the essential form of washed coffee, rather than focusing on more flamboyant processing styles.

We at Fuglen also participated as judges in the 2024 CWCF. Our connection with coffee producers in Tarqui has continued from there.

Tarqui is a town located slightly south of central Huila. It is about 147 kilometers by road south of the departmental capital, Neiva, and around 50 kilometers north of Pitalito, a town well known for coffee. The town center sits about two kilometers from the left bank of the Magdalena River, at an altitude of roughly 800 meters. From there, the road climbs more than ten kilometers up the slopes to Alexis’s farm at 1,750 meters. The difference in elevation from the valley floor to the farm is around 1,000 meters.

Behind the farm rises a mountain massif called Serranía de las Minas. It is a spur descending from the Central Cordillera of the Andes toward the Magdalena Valley, with higher areas reaching around 2,500 to 2,700 meters. Valued as a source forest and cloud forest area, it was designated as a protected Regional Natural Park, Parque Natural Regional, in 2005. This approximately 29,000-hectare park also includes part of the municipality of Tarqui.

The Magdalena Valley below is hot and dry. Warm air rises slowly up the slopes during the day and meets the cool air coming down from the mountains above. This layering of warm and cool conditions is said to slow the maturation of the cherries. Huila has been Colombia’s leading department in coffee production for 15 consecutive years, producing around 20% of the country’s coffee.

Alexis has dedicated himself to the fields of Los Lacres for the past 15 years or so. On the farm, he grows varieties including Castillo, Caturra, and this Pink Bourbon. Based on the traditional Colombian cultivation and processing methods passed down from his parents, he pays careful attention to each step of the process.

In 2023, Alexis joined Fair Field’s single-origin program and delivered 363 kg of Castillo. This lot met the program’s quality standards and passed the preliminary selection for the CWCF. Our work with coffees from Tarqui comes through our relationship with Fair Field and SYU・HA・RI. From Colombia, we have previously introduced coffees from producers such as Astrid Medina from Tolima and Carina Andrea Claros from Tarqui, whom we met through the CWCF, also through Fair Field. In 2024, we ourselves were present at the CWCF as judges.