Colombia - Oscar Hernández | filter

World class.

We are beyond chuffed to present this new world class microlot from the truly innovative and highly regarded producer, Oscar Hernández from Finca Los Nogales!

This super vibrant coffee tastes like a cool breeze of the sea on a hot summer day - a juicy and crisp combination of pineapple and exotic fruits, a malic acidity of green apple, with a strawberry candy-like, bubble-gum sweetness.
Oh so unique, OMG!

ORIGIN: Colombia
PRODUCER: Oscar Hernández - Finca Los Nogales
REGION: Pitalito - Huila
GROWING ALTITUDE: 1750m.
VARIETAL: Cenicafé (Caturra & Timor Hybrid)
PROCESS: Thermal shock 90H fermentation, washed
ROAST PROFILE: Light (filter roast).

Oscar Hernández is a third-generation coffee farmer. His father, Don Ricaurte, was a trailblazer among local coffee farmers in the Huila district and set new standards in coffee quality in the early 2000s. In 2005, he won the coveted Cup of Excellence.

The award was both a curse and a blessing for Finca Los Nogales and the Hernandez family. The success brought new customers to the farm but also attracted the attention of the social revolutionary guerrilla organisation FARC. In 2013, Oscar’s father became the target of such a kidnapping. Knowing the threat of extortion that would befall his family, he resisted and died fighting the guerrillas.

Oscar was 25 years old at the time and had been serving the Colombian army for six years. The death of his father thwarted his plans for the future, and he returned in January 2014, to take over the management of Finca Los Nogales. The third-youngest child became the new head of the family overnight. Oscar is technologically savvy, works very meticulously and likes ambitious goals that others consider unattainable, and he made huge steps on the farm in the eight years since. At just 34 years old, he’s quickly become a truly fascinating farmer producing absolutely exceptional coffee.

A complex process.

The process always starts with a good harvesting of ripe fruits: in this step, only coffee fruits that have reached adequate maturity are collected, which guarantees the quality of the beans.

The collected beans undergo a cleaning and disinfection process using treated water, ensuring the elimination of impurities and unwanted microorganisms. Then they are processed by a thermal shock, being immersed alternately in hot and cold water. (80 degrees 20 seconds and 15 degrees 3 minutes). This has two purposes: to release glucose from the beans and to pasteurise them to eliminate unwanted microorganisms.

The pulp is removed from the beans and sugars obtained from pressing the coffee husks are added, this adds sweetness and complexity to the flavour. Pre-ferments, similar to sourdough in bakery, are added to start fermentation. The beans ferment for 90 hours, which contributes to the formation of distinctive flavours.

The fermented beans are then dried in the sun for a period of 15 days, to reach the optimal moisture for storage.

Finally, the parchment-dried coffee beans are placed in barrels previously used for beer, adding additional flavour nuances.

The result is close control of the fermentation process and subsequent impact on the flavour profile of the coffee, creating a coffee with extraordinary and complex flavours. In the cup this coffee has offered us notes of pineapple, exotic fruit, green apple, strawberry candy and banana. This is an elite expression of high-quality Colombian coffee.

A new exciting varietal: Cenicafé 1.

Cenicafé 1 is a relatively new coffee varietal, developed by the Colombia’s National Coffee Research Centre (Cenicafé) through the wider Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC), that continuously works to protect the future of coffee as a crop - looking at disease resistance, the effects of climate change, how to boost yield etc. - and to keep raising the potential for quality.

Cenicafé 1 took 20 years of research to create. The aim was to provide a solution for Colombian coffee growers who wanted Caturra-like trees that were also rust-resistant.

Cenicafé 1, is a cross between Caturra and the Timor Hybrid 1343. As part of its Coffee Breeding Strategy, Cenicafé originally selected 116 advanced progenies from this cross. From these 116, they continued to narrow down the progenies until they had their new variety, recently made available for distribution.

It’s resistant not just to leaf rust but also the Coffee Berry Disease, a fungus that lives in the bark of coffee trees. The fungus’ spores then attack the coffee cherries. While this disease is not currently an issue in Colombia, affecting primarily African coffee crops, the FNC and Cenicafé want to plan ahead in case it ever does spread to Latin America.