Sonia Bolaños

Sonia farms just under three hectares in the village of San Agustín in the Huila region, where she used to grow mainly the Caturra variety. The spread of coffee rust forced her to switch to the more resistant Pink Bourbon and Castillo varieties—and it turned out that this change was more than just a necessity. But Sonia’s story isn’t just about agronomy: between 2019 and 2021, financial hardship forced her to sell her coffee en verde—that is, only hulled and not yet dried—for a fraction of its true value. It was only through her collaboration with the MonKaaba group and the importer Semilla that she was able to return to the premium market and receive a fair price for her work—this year nearly forty percent higher than the regional average. Processing is precisely controlled: freshly harvested cherries ferment for twelve hours in bags, then are hulled and dry-fermented for another 36 hours.

After being washed four times and drained for 24 hours, the beans are sent to a solar dryer, where they spend fifteen days. The result is a coffee with a dense, jam-like body and pronounced red fruit notes—a profile that the Von&Vonnie roastery liked so much that it chose it as the inspiration for the design of its own limited-edition collection. The light roast intentionally accentuates the floral notes while preserving that typical rich texture. It works great both as a filter brew and as an espresso.