October 2025: Podium Platinum. Bonlife Coffee

Country: Colombia
Varietals: Pink bourbon
Region: Quindio
Process: Washed
Producer: Jairo Arcila
Elevation: 1,550 MASL
Tasting notes: Lychee, tropical fruits, jam.

The coffee:

Jairo Arcila is a third generation coffee grower from Quindio, Colombia who has been growing specialty coffee for over four decades. This Jairo Co-ferment is an exceptionally clean and crisp coffee.

This single varietal Pink Bourbon lot was co-fermented with dried lychee and wine yeast. It underwent a dry anaerobic fermentation of 72 hours, afterwards the coffee was slowly dried on raised beds, 35 degree celsius until ideal moisture content was achieved.

When Bonlife visited Jairo Arcila and his family last year, they knew they had found kindred coffee spirits. Jairo's love for the land and desire to push coffee to new heights is world class. They've taken a beautiful Pink Bourbon coffee and pushed it beyond its limits with extended controlled fermentation and yeast strains to produce a complex cup unlike anything before it. This year the team at Bonlife worked with this coffee with their own proprietary US based experimental lab to push it even further, this is a one of kind experience that will never be had exactly this way again.

The roaster:

Bonlife Coffee Roasters, based in Cleveland, Tennessee, is a direct-trade specialty roaster founded on the idea that coffee can create a “good life” for both farmers and drinkers alike.

Led by Erika Moore, Bonlife sources exceptional coffees through close relationships with producers, roasts in small batches to highlight flavor and freshness, and has earned recognition in national competitions like Golden Bean and Good Food Awards. Their vibrant café and roasting space reflect the same mission that drives their coffee: building community, celebrating quality, and making every cup a force for good.

When Erika and Jeremy Moore started BonLife, they did it with the goal of highlighting producers and helping consumers better understand the story of the many hands that it takes to bring their daily joys to life. What started as a modest endeavor has turned into an obsession to push coffee forward and bring everyone further together. All Bonlife's coffees are roasted and bagged with care by their women owned and led team of pros in Bradley County TN.