El Diviso - Ombligon

Rare & Exclusive lot (89+ points)

Finca El Diviso, Huila, Colombia – Advanced Natural Ombligon

– “A special preparation of an extremely rare mutation by our amazing friend and talented young producer Nestor Lasso – in collaboration with Cata Export”. 

What to expect in the cup

Strawberry, lychee, cherry bakewell. Amazingly sweet like amaretto dessert with sparkling tropical fruit acidity and creamy lactic body.

£20.00£72.00

Ombligon is a relatively new varietal that was discovered in very recent years in Huila, Colombia. And in fact 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. 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.
5 years ago, Nestor Lasso and his brother Adrian took over the family farm and branched out into specialty coffee and experimentation rather than growing coffee like their parents. Today, at 24 and 26, the two brothers have teamed up with Jhoan Vergara, also the child of a coffee farmer, to create El Diviso. El Diviso brings together the two-family farms, El Diviso (Nestor and Adrian Lasso) and Las Flores (Jhoan Vergara), close to the town of Pitalito, in the Huila region of Colombia. This partnership was great as these 3 young guys united their knowledge to improve quality. Then, 3 years ago, Cat & Pierre, founders of CATA Export and the 3 producers started a journey of trial and error to define the fermentation processes and protocols at the farm, with the aim to linked these coffees directly to the UK market. This learning process has been time and money consuming but with an exciting outcome as today these coffees have been used in many barista competitions across Europe. Recently winning 1st place at Brewers Cup in Ireland and 3rd in Austria. Today Cata Export and Finca El Diviso work as one team. Nestor’s and Cat’s friendship is a good example of what Cata Export do, working directly with the farms is a very enriching process for them not only for the complexity of topics such as agronomy but also for the relationships Cata builds which ultimately translate into an economic benefit for Cata’s community. In this way many more young producers like Nestor stay in coffee and have the chance to build a career and we are honoured to be able to contribute further by continuing bringing some of his incredible coffees.