Oscar Hernandez - Colombia - Washed - Geisha
An awesome 'advanced washed' Geisha from one of the most exciting producers in Colombia, Oscar Hernandez of Los Nogales! Oscar is one of many young and innovative coffee producers leading the charge in Huila right now. This lot is dried as a washed coffee but as you'd expect it has multiple stages of fermentation, sorting, and washing including the now famous 'thermal shock'. Expect a perfumed, ripe cup with notes of elderflower, plum, and violet.
Info
Farm
Los Nogales is arguably one of Colombia's most famous farms, most notably for being the first to win Colombia's Cup of Excellence Competition when they took first place in the country's inaugural competition in 2005 with a washed Geisha.
Region
Pitalito is an exciting coffee growing region with many young & ambitious producers pushing the boundaries of coffee quality.
Curiousities
Los Nogales was started by Oscar’s father, Ricaurte, who famously won the first ever Colombian Cup of Excellence Competition in 2005.
Elevation
El Diviso sits at 1870 - 2000 masl and is planted with exotics like Geisha, Pink Bourbon, Bourbon Aji, Tabi, Java, and Typica.
Variety
The genetic variance of 'Geisha' is muddy as the variety spread throughout the coffee producing world. The seed stock at Los Nogales is traceable Panamanian Geisha, or ‘Peterson Geisha’, a stable variant and the direct descendent of T2722.
Process
Fully-ripe cherries are washed with ozonated water to decrease the microbial load, before being sorted by density. The cherries are then 'thermal shock washed', where they're moved from an 80c water bath to a 12c water bath. The coffee is then pulped and fermented in mucillage for 120 hours before finally sun-drying for around 15 days.
The New Generation
“Pitalito is an exciting coffee growing region with many young & ambitious producers pushing the boundaries of coffee quality.”
Oscar is the youngest sibling of the Hernandez family, who form part of a group of young coffee producers in the region, including our friend Nestor Lasso and the team at Zarza coffee, who are sharing knowledge and ideas with each other, and even combining their farms, with the goal of making Huila known for producing world class specialty coffee.
Legacy
“For me, the best way to heal those wounds was to return to the farm, it was to continue with his legacy and feel him close, believe that he is proud of what we are doing as a family”.”
Los Nogales was started by Oscar's father, Ricaurte, who famously won the first ever Colombian Cup of Excellence Competition in 2005. Sadly in 2013, while on his way to the farm, Ricaurte was killed by an armed Guerilla group, a problem that still plagues the country to this day. It was a tragic day for Los Nogales and the entire coffee community in Huila, and one that led Oscar to leave the Navy and take over the farm and his father's legacy.
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