Los Jazmines

Meet the Grower

Jose Lizardo Alba

Finca Los Jazmines is Jose Lizardo Alba's ten-hectare farm in Palestina, Huila, in the south of Colombia. Seven hectares of the farm are planted in about 27,000 coffee trees of several varieties—primarily Bourbon, Colombia, Castillo, Caturra, and Geisha. Since 2020, we have purchased his Pink Boubon, a hybrid of the more common red and yellow varieties rarely found outside of Huila.

At Los Jazmines, mature cherries are hand-picked, then taken to the wet mill where any remaining unripes are removed, also by hand. The coffee is floated in water to remove underdeveloped beans that can hide beneath mature-looking cherries. It is then de-pulped and fermented anaerobically in sealed bags for around 76 hours. After washing, the beans are dried in a greenhouse for 18 to 20 days to promote slow, even drying. Lizardo's hard, meticulous work in post-harvest processing pays off in remarkably sweet, clean, and complex coffees with bright acidity and notes of tropical fruit, citrus, and lavender.