Filter & Espresso
Caramelized apple, pistachio, cardamom
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Huila |
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1,750m. |
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Cider |
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Honey Anaerobic 60h |
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Nestor Lasso |
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2022 Harvest |
Nestor Lasso lot Cider from El Diviso estate
Nestor Lasso is a young coffee farmer who, at 22 years old, has taken over the family farm with his brother, Adrian. Five years ago, they decided to take over coffee production on their family's 14-hectare farm.
Since then, they've pivoted their production, focusing on creating micro-lots and improving their processes. The result has been that their Colombian coffees are used in competitions around the world, sought after by roasters, and their family's quality of life has significantly improved.
The El Diviso estate
Nestor and Adrián are not alone; they are part of a youth movement in coffee-producing countries who are embracing coffee as a way of life. This is partly due to the growing interest worldwide in quality coffee that is environmentally friendly and provides a decent living for coffee growers—the basic principles of specialty coffee.
Nestor and Adrian have joined forces with another young neighbor, Jhoan Vergara, from the Las Flores farm, to help each other grow and process better coffees.
The El Diviso farm is located near the municipality of Pitalito, in southwestern Colombia, in the coffee-growing region of Huila. It lies at an altitude of between 1,750 and 1,800 meters and offers ideal conditions for growing specialty coffees.
Nestor and Adrian are third-generation coffee farmers and the first to have completely shifted their production focus to quality over quantity. This has allowed them to make coffee farming a viable and dignified way of life.
Nestor Lasso, passion for coffee
Nestor explains that his passion for coffee was what led him to take over the family business. But this passion would not have found a place if Nestor hadn't seen the possibility of a decent life in it. As he says:
“In general, being a coffee producer is poorly paid and not very attractive. The only thing that keeps producers from going hungry is eating the fruits and vegetables produced on the farm. As for material goods, we only have access to the bare minimum. Therefore, many young people prefer to go to the city to look for office jobs or less physically demanding work because they think coffee isn't worth the effort.”
Nestor found a way to turn this dynamic around because his passion for coffee led him to strive to improve and test new ways of growing and processing:
“I've always had a passion for production. When I realized that specialty coffee offered a real opportunity for economic development, and that I could also develop my knowledge of coffee production, and particularly the processes, I jumped right in.”
Nestor and his brother Adrian benefited from a national program subsidized by the Colombian government to learn all the theoretical knowledge about the cultivation and processing of specialty coffee. But as he says, "The reality of coffee farming is learned in the field."
The process of this Nestor Lasso Sidra 60-hour coffee
After completing the program, Nestor, his brother Adrian, and their friend Jhoan decided to combine their efforts and resources to plant different coffee varieties and create micro-lots using specific processes. After arduous research based on trial and error in both the cultivation and processing processes, they have produced coffees that have won competitions around the world and are sought after by roasters.
The batch we present is of the Sidra variety, a hybrid of Bourbon and Typica that seeks to combine the best qualities of both. This batch has grown in the shade of native and fruit trees, which promotes slower ripening.
The process followed is a variation of the Honey process, adding fermentation times to highlight its qualities.
First, only the ripe cherries are picked and left to "oxidize" for 12 hours at a temperature of 25 degrees. In other words, they are left to rest for natural fermentation to begin.
The second step is anaerobic fermentation in plastic bags at 16-18 degrees Celsius for 60 hours. This fermentation process controls the flow of oxygen.
The third step is to remove the pulp from the cherries, but leaving the mucilage (which is why we say it's a "honey") and let them "oxidize" for another 32 hours submerged in a juice extracted from the cherry pulp.
The final step is to dry them for 20 to 29 days at a maximum temperature of 30 degrees, until the humidity level does not exceed 11%.
Tasting notes
The processing of this Colombian coffee bean makes it truly special and different from many other coffees from the Huila coffee region. The tasting notes are caramelized apple, pistachio, and cardamom.
