Nestor Lasso - Thermal Shock Sidra

MEET THE PRODUCER | At ages 23 and 25 years old, Nestor and his brother, Adrian, are some of the youngest players in the game right now! They partnered with a fellow son-of-a-coffee-farmer, Jhoan Vergara, to create the farm known as El Diviso, where today's Sidra lot was grown. Though their parents were commodity coffee farmers, Nestor & co. have taken a profound interest in specialty coffee production, in part because of its potential for real economic development - but also because they each have a passion for coffee production in general and experimental processes (like thermal shock!) in particular. By combining their knowledge and experience to improve production quality, Nestor, Adrian, and Jhoan hope to help other farmers and producers see that coffee is "a much more noble product than perhaps it seems."

TRUST THE PROCESS | After being handpicked at peak ripeness, the coffee cherries are oxidized for twelve hours at a controlled temperature of no more than 25 degrees Celsius. Then, it's off to their first round of fermentation in an anaerobic environment for 50 hours. After this, Nestor and his team repeat those steps, placing the coffee in an open-air tank for a second round of oxidation (20 hours) and then another round of anaerobic fermentation (30 hours). Lastly, they undergo submerged fermentation with the musto collected during oxidation. Finally, the cherries are placed in a masquesina to dry until a moisture content of 11% is achieved.

TAKE A SIP | When hot, this coffee is delightfully fruity and tropical, with notes like watermelon, dragonfruit, passionfruit, and mango. There's also a wine-y character about it that reminds us of red wine, or even sangria (side note: is it summer yet?)

As the coffee approaches a pleasantly warm temperature, the sweetness takes on a more candy-like profile (think hard strawberry and watermelon candies, like Jolly Ranchers). Mango prevails, and pineapple is introduced here. Red wine gives way to orange wine as the funk factor ticks up a notch.

When cool, the body is round and full, and acidity is more apparent: all of those fun fruit flavors prevail (like mango and dragonfruit), but many of them become more crisp in profile (think tart strawberry, and tart watermelon. The sweetness here reminds us of passion fruit candy.

Taken as a complete cup, this coffee tastes something like watermelon wine (though Lainey might have a slightly different beverage in mind...), strawberry candy, and pineapple juice. It reminds us of summer, kudzu vines, and a gas station sugar rush, and we delight in every sip. Cheers.

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Origin | Bruselas, Huila, Colombia

Producer | Nestor Lasso

Farm | El Diviso

Process | Thermal Shock Natural

Variety | Sidra

Elevation | 1750 masl