Colombia — Nestor Lasso Ombligon

• Producer — Nestor Lasso at El Diviso
• Region — Pitalito, Huila, southwestern Colombia
• Terroir — 1750 masl, temperate tropical climate
• Process — Natural
• Variety — Ombligon

Tastes like

Pineapple + Passionfruit + Dense

Recommended brewing

• Best: Pour over with the Orea Brewer V3
• Great: Filter (batch brew, french press)
• Very good: Espresso

Nestor Lasso Ombligon

In 2018, alongside his older brother Adrian and just 17 years-old, Nestor Lasso took over the day-to-day running of the family farm. The two siblings then partnered with another young, local producer – Jhoan Vergara – to bring together two family farms and create El Diviso.

Determined to focus on specialty coffee, experimenting with pioneering post-harvest methods in the process, the trio partnered with Colombian coffee exporters, Cata Export, to accelerate their research and share their coffees with new markets across the globe. 

The partnership has paid off, coffees produced at El Diviso have been used in multiple coffee competitions over the past couple of years, winning first place at the Ireland Brewers’ Cup and third place at the Austrian iteration of the same event. 

This coffee is a rare variety of which not much is understood. It is suggested that it is related to the Ethiopian heirloom variety, though some propose that it’s simply a local, colloquial phrase for pacamara. What is certain is that the name ombligon originates from the elongated shape of the bean, and a belly-button-shaped nodule on its base.

Post-harvest process

Once harvested, this lot was put through a multi-stage process of fermentation and drying, outlined below.

1. Coffee cherries placed in open tanks for 48 hours to oxidise
2. Floated in water to remove unripe and defected cherries
3. Rinsed with water at 50 degress Celcius (thermal shock) to kickstart fermentation
4. Sprayed with brewer’s yeast before being sealed in an air-tight tank
5. 38-hour fermentation in an anaerobic environment
6. Mechanically dried for 12 hours
7. Rested for 48 hours in a dark room to stabilise
8. Dried under canopy for approximately 15 days.