If you've already tried Green Hills' Tradition, Honey or Natural, you know what specialty coffee can achieve when the process is done right. The Bronze, Silver and Gold line exists to go further.
These are the three most complex, most limited and most demanding coffees we produce. Each has a distinct technical story — and a cup unlike anything you've tasted before. Together they make up our premium coffee line, designed for people who can already tell an exceptional bean apart.
Bronze Coffee — Carbonic Maceration: When Coffee Learns from Wine
Carbonic maceration is a process the natural wine world has used for decades and that, in specialty coffee, is only just being explored by the most experimental producers in the world.
Here's how it works: whole coffee cherries — not pulped — are placed in a sealed tank into which carbon dioxide (CO₂) is injected to push out all the oxygen. In this oxygen-free environment, the bean ferments from the inside out, driven by its own enzymes.
The result is a controlled fermentation with a precision impossible with conventional methods. The compounds that develop are unlike those of any other process: more complex, unusual and defined flavors, with a profile reminiscent of natural wine, fermented fruit and subtle spices.
Doing it well requires specialized equipment, controlled temperature and a producer who understands exactly what is happening inside the tank. A mistake in any variable ruins the whole lot.
Cup profile: Fermented fruit, spices, wine, dense body, a complex and lingering aftertaste.
For whom: The coffee lover who wants a radically different experience. The one who already knows the Natural and wants to go a step further.
Silver Coffee — Honey Process: Exoticism and Tropical Sweetness
Silver is the premium coffee that most surprises people who try it without knowing what to expect. It doesn't have the drama of Bronze or the exclusivity of Gold — it has something subtler and harder to achieve: a balance between complexity and approachability.
Silver is made with a careful honey process: the cherry is pulped, but part of the mucilage is left on the bean while it dries. Those sugars are absorbed into the bean and give it a profile of exoticism and tropical sweetness, where coconut, honey and vanilla take center stage, with a silky body and juicy acidity.
It's the coffee that most often turns someone into a cupper — because the first time they drink it, they reach for words they've never needed to describe a coffee before.
Cup profile: Coconut, honey, vanilla, tropical sweetness, a medium, silky body and juicy acidity.
For whom: The explorer who wants exotic flavors without the extreme intensity of Bronze. Anyone who enjoys a smooth, sweet, creamy cup.
Gold Coffee — The Treasure of Hacienda Las Mercedes
Gold isn't just Green Hills' most exclusive coffee — it's the coffee that best represents what Hacienda Las Mercedes can produce when every condition lines up perfectly.
Not every year has a Gold. Not every lot qualifies. The name isn't marketing: it's the designation we reserve for beans from the highest-scoring lot of the harvest, grown on the plot with the most exceptional conditions that year.
The Gold process combines strict fruit selection — only the most perfect beans of the harvest — with a long fermentation and slow drying on raised African beds under controlled conditions. The roast is designed specifically for that lot, adjusting the curve to that year's profile.
The result is a high-scoring specialty coffee — above 87 SCA points — with a complexity that cuppers describe as a complete experience: it changes as it cools, reveals layers that weren't there in the first sip and leaves an aftertaste that lasts for minutes. If you're wondering what lies behind the value of these lots, we explain how much specialty coffee costs in Colombia and why.
Cup profile: Varies with the harvest. Notes of tropical fruit, flowers, fine chocolate and honey. High, bright acidity, a complex body and an endless aftertaste.
For whom: The connoisseur. The one who understands that in coffee, as in everything exceptional, scarcity isn't a flaw — it's part of the value.
Which One Is for You?
| Coffee | Distinctive process | Profile | For whom |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bronze | Carbonic maceration | Intense, winey, spicy | The extreme adventurer |
| Silver | Honey | Tropical, sweet, creamy: coconut, honey and vanilla | The sophisticated explorer |
| Gold | Special selection lot | Complex, evolving, extraordinary | The demanding connoisseur |
All three are limited production. When they're gone, they're gone — until the next harvest. So it's worth securing yours in time.
