José Salazar (Bourbon Ají)

Country - Colombia

Region - Pitalito, Huila

Producer/s - José Salazar

Washing Station - on the farm

Processing - Extended Washed

Varietal/s - Bourbon Aruzi

Altitude - 1750 MASL

Harvest - Feb 2026

José Herman Salazar grows coffee with his family at La Guaca, near Pitalito in southern Huila. He bought the farm in 2001 and originally planted Caturra, before gradually moving towards specialty coffee and becoming increasingly curious about what was already growing around him.

That curiosity eventually led to Ají. José noticed a small number of trees whose ripe cherries had a strange, sweet chilli-like aroma. He separated them, propagated the seeds and began producing the coffee on its own. He called it Bourbon Ají — ají meaning chilli in Spanish — although genetic testing later found that it isn't a Bourbon at all. Its genetics point instead towards an Ethiopian landrace, somehow finding a home in southern Colombia.

In 2021 José entered the variety into Colombia's Cup of Excellence, where it finished sixth with 89.32 points. Since then Ají has slowly spread through Huila, but La Guaca remains an important part of where its story began.

For us, the interesting part isn't really its rarity. It's that a farmer noticed something different growing amongst his trees, paid attention to it, and followed that curiosity far enough to uncover an entirely new expression of Colombian coffee.

Espresso Recipe: 1:3 ratio

In: 20 grams dry dose

Out:  60 grams beverage weight output

Time: Contact time of 30+ seconds

Filter Recipe: 1:17 ratio

In: 20 grams dry coffee

Out: 330 grams brewing water

Time: 3:00-3:30 minutes