DOUBLE Anaerobic Mossto ombligon

Producer: Nestor Lasso

Farm: Finca El Diviso

Bag Size: 70 KG

Region: Bruselas, Pitalito - Huila 

Altitude: 1,820 MSAL

Variety: Ombligon

Process: Double Anaerobic Mossto Thermal Shock Natural

Notes:

Nestor and Adrian are two young people who represent the new generation of coffee producers in Colombia. They are risky, innovative, and they are in an endless pursuit to develop thought provoking flavor profiles that are truly one of a kind. Today, at 26 and 27, the two brothers have teamed up to run the family farm Finca El Diviso. Nestor’s coffees as of recent have developed a cult following among the hardest of hardcore connoisseurs and competitors in the industry. Nestor’s coffees have gained global acclaim by leaving their mark on the world stage which began in 2022 when his anaerobic natural Sidra was used to win the World Barista Championship. Each year forward Nestors coffees have been a regular fixture in the completion circuit as a consistent championship finalist.

Néstor at the ripe age of 27 years old, is in charge of Finca El Diviso. Once finishing high school he decided to start working directly alongside his father on the farm. He had two uncompromising rules if permanently pursuing a life in coffee: 1. he would not be willing to compromise on quality and 2. to do things in a radically different way than what was traditionally accepted in Colombia. He realized that in order to create better opportunities in coffee, he could not continue down the same old path of coffee farming and continue doing the things the old way. He had to pave a new path, so he convinced his father to plant other varieties and to start producing high-quality coffees since he saw the great potential in the specialty market. In Colombia there is a program that Nestor and his brother Adrian had attended funded by the Colombian government and today this program is recognized as one of the most renowned coffee growing institutions in Latin America, called SENA. Some of the most valuable lessons and knowledge was gained at SENA, by Nestor and Andrian. All the fundamental aspects and basics of coffee cultivation to the intricacies and science behind coffee processing were absorbed while attending the institute. In 2016, Nestor earned his technical gegree in Specialty Coffee Processing from SENA.

Technical Information - Processing

Ombligon is a relatively new varietal that was discovered in the past few years in Huila, Colombia. To be more precise Ombligon is a natural mutation of an Ethiopian Landrace. Ombligo is belly button in Spanish and is the reason why locals refer to this variety as the cherry with a belly button. Ombligon has similar characteristics to Caturra, such as wide leaves, cherries which grow close together, branches which grow vertically, and high yields. Ombligon is also denser than other varieties, with less ‘floaters’ or non-developed beans present in floatation tanks. The cherries are picked at optimal maturity stage with brix degrees ranging between 21 – 24 degrees. Then the cherries are put into open plastic tanks and are left oxidising for 48 hours, during these 48h, the coffee Mossto (juice or extract produced during the oxidation) is constantly being recirculated.

The coffee must be monitored and analysed to make sure that it is at 19 brix degrees and that the ph doesn’t fall below 5. In next step all the cherries are emptied in a tank of cold water and the ones that stay afloat (unripe, lower density, broca infected etc...) are manually removed. Next the cherries are then rinsed with water heated at 50° c (thermal shock) to loosen their molecular structure and kickstart the fermentation process before being transferred into airtight plastic bins to start their anaerobic process. Before closing the lid of the tank, brewers’ yeast is sprayed on the cherries at a ratio of 1:5 (1gram yeast / 5kg cherries) diluted in 32°c water. The cherries are left fermenting for 38 hours whilst endemic microorganisms and the added yeast multiply. The cherries are then mechanically dried for approximately 12 hours to dehydrate as fast as possible and reached 18% moisture content. The cherries are placed in closed plastic bags and left to stabilise for 2 days in a dark room. And finally the cherries are placed in marquesinas to finish the drying process for approximately 15 days until reaching 10.5-11.5% moisture content.

REGIONAL INFORMATION

Finca El Diviso is located in the city of Bruselas in Huila. Huila, one of the most vital coffee growing regions in Colombia due to its economy, agricultural and commercial production of coffee. Huila is located in the southern portion of the country where the Central and Eastern ranges of the Andes mountains converge. Coffee being the product with the highest national production, especially of arabica that is exported to The United States, Russia, Japan and various countries around Europe. Huila’s coffee farms are predominately smallholder owned and over the past ten years have made consorted efforts to produce specialty coffee that reveals the full character of the region’s terroir. Selective manual harvesting, attentive processing, and careful post-harvest sorting all contribute to increasing recognition of the region.