Colombia Huila Finca El Diviso Anaerobic

Tasting Notes: Strawberry, Peach Gummies, Floral
Roast Level: Light 
Process: Double Anaerobic Mossto Washed
Origin: Colombia 
Region: Huila
Subregion: Pitalito, Bruselas
Farm: Finca El Diviso
Producer: Nestor Lasso
Altitude: 1820 MASL
Species: Arabica 
Variety: Caturra

Nestor 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 Adrian. 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 degree in Specialty Coffee Processing from SENA.

This is a unique process when it comes to hybrid washed coffees—or maybe better identified as a double anaerobic washed coffee. Basically the post harvest fermentation is started off as a double anaerobic natural and finished as a washed coffee. The process begins with a collection of ripe Caturra cherries. The cherries collected comprise of 70% ripe cherries and 30% pink with an average of 23 Brix degrees. 

Initial fermentation, the cherries are collected for oxidation for 48 hours at an average room temperature of 25°C. The next step, the cherries undergo an anaerobic fermentation in sealed fermentation barrels for 20 hours at an average temperature of 16 - 18°C. Following this phase, the coffee is transferred to separate oxidation tanks to sit for 28 hours where the coffee will reach temperatures of 36°C. Following the oxidation phase, the coffee once again will undergo a second anaerobic phase but this time with added microbial mossto that was collected from the leached cherries from the previous anaerobic fermentation cycle for 18 hours and will be controlled to ferment at 16 - 20°C.

Following the second anaerobic phase, the cherry is depulped removing the bean from the fruit and soaked in tanks with mossto for 18 hours in 45°C water. Following the soaking, the coffee goes directly to canopy covered solar drying beds for 18 - 24 days. It is routinely raked and rotated to assure even exposure and drying. The final phase of drying, the coffee is placed in sealed grainpro bags for an additional 15 days. Solar dryers are an alternative form of sun drying that combines the best of both worlds when it comes to drying. It provides solar energy to dry the coffee while protecting coffees from any direct sunlight or elements brought on by wet weather, especially trying to dry coffee during La Niña. Greenhouse dryers differ from sun drying methods such as patio and raised bed in that they induce a greenhouse effect by trapping air internally and warming it by solar radiation.