El Diviso Chiroso, Filter - Colombia

Five years ago, Nestor Lasso and his brother Adrian took over the family farm and went into specialty coffee and experimentation rather than growing coffee like their parents.

Now, at 22 and 24, the brothers have teamed up with Jhoan Vergara, also the child of a coffee farmer, to create El Diviso.

El Diviso includes the two-family farms El Diviso (Nestor and Adrian Lasso) and Las Flores (Jhoan Vergara), near the city of Pitalito, in the Huila region of Colombia. This partnership was great because these 3 young people combined their knowledge to improve quality.

Three years ago, CATA Export founders Cat and Pierre and the 3 producers embarked on a trial-and-error journey to define the fermentation processes and protocols on the farm, with the aim of connecting these coffees directly to the UK market.

This learning process took time and money, but with an exciting result since today these coffees have been used in many barista competitions across Europe. And recently won 1st place at the Brewers Cup in Ireland and 3rd place in Austria.

Optimally ripe cherries are oxidized for 48 hours. A thermal shock is carried out at 50°C and introduced into sealed plastic tanks to start anaerobic fermentation. During this fermentation, saccharomyces yeast is added. This solution is sprayed onto the coffee and left for 80 hours. The coffee cherries are then mechanically dried for 12 hours before being sun dried for 15 days. 

• Region: Pitalito, Huila
• Country: Colombia
• Elevation: 1,850 masl
• Variety: Chiroso
• Process: Natural Anaerobic Thermal Shock