This coffee is a Pink Bourbon variety grown by Huber Mendez at Villa Maritza farm in Tarqui, Huila, Colombia, at an altitude of 1,920 meters. The cherries are de-pulped, fermented for three days plus an additional 24 hours, washed, and dried for 15-20 days. This lot offers high flavor intensity and sweetness, featuring notes of raspberry jam, rose hips, hibiscus, lime, and mango.
Rebecca Grossman and Lucas Smith founded Ilse in 2019, starting with a thousand dollars and a rented roaster in Stamford before building out their own facility in a converted mechanic's garage in North Canaan. The approach is quality-driven: light roasts, single-producer microlots, and a commitment to buying entire harvests from the same farms year after year, some relationships now stretch back to the beginning. Pricing is transparent; each bag lists what the producer was paid, the FOB price, and Ilse's cost. Sourcing focuses on Central and South America and East Africa, with Costa Rica, Honduras, Colombia, and Ethiopia appearing regularly.
