Los Nogales – Colombia

It was 80 years and 5 generations ago when the Hernandez family arrived at the village of El Diamante in Huila, Colombia, with the goal of finding fertile land to plant the first seeds of the Los Nogales farm. As the family and the farm grew, it became clear that the passion and dedication of one person stood out; the youngest of 8 sons, Ricaurte Hernandez. Born on the farm in 1952, Ricaurte would soon realize his passion for specialty coffee and become one of the most renowned producers in Colombia. Throughout the years, Ricaurte worked to produce and innovate specialty coffee in the area, showcasing the potential of the land in Huila. All of his dedication would come to fruition in 2005 at the Colombian Cup of Excellence competition, in which Los Nogales would be awarded first place, truly cementing Huila as a nucleus for specialty coffee.

In the year 2013, Ricaurte would be tragically murdered. While the family, and entire country, mourned his loss, the farm would go up for sale. This was until Ricaurte’s youngest son, Oscar, would abandon a Navy career and return to the farm to dedicate his life to coffee. Prior to his time in the Navy, Oscar would get an education in environmental technologies and returned to the farm with two main goals; firstly, to advance the world of coffee production by implementing research and innovative sustainable practices to protect the environment. His second goal was to create employment opportunities on the farm to give back to the community around El Diamante. In the years since taking over, Los Nogales has become a center for research and innovation of coffee technology and biotechnology, a pioneer in social responsibility and environmental commitment, and of course, a producer of some of Colombia’s most outstanding coffees.

The harvesting is done by a team of 30 collectors who hand pick the coffee for perfect ripeness. After arriving at the mill for processing, the coffee is cleaned, pulped, and sorted for quality. Throughout each of these processes special care is taken to ensure that the coffee is kept sterile, which is critical for the next stage: fermentation. Pulped coffee is separated into tanks and a fermentation is started with Lactobacillus yeasts. The fermentation lasts for 190 hours and with the use of small fermentation tanks they are able to closely monitor temperature and quality to ensure an excellent fermentation. This “lacto fermentation” synergizes to create a coffee with mind-blowing tropical flavours, complex acidity, and candy-like sweetness, while also working to break down remaining mucilage on the coffee beans to create a “clean” cup. After the fermentation stage, coffee is fully washed before being spread out to dry under close monitoring. This is truly a special coffee and we are eager to share it with you!