Los Nogales
Los Nogales Farm is a family business, so it is difficult to talk about just one name. But for us, the charismatic Oscar Hernandez, the leader of the project, represents the farm. Oscar is a third generation farmer who grows coffee in the south of the department of Huila, near the town of Bruselas. He is an energetic, always positive and innovative person, not only for his family but also for the wider environment. His father, Ricaurte Hernandez, was the first to prove what we already know today, that in Bruselas you can find the best coffees from all over Colombia. In 2006 he won the Colombian Cup of Excellence and, as the locals say, he got the word out. Ricaurte has “put” Bruselas, and with it the entire department of Huila, on the map of fine coffee. Oscar continues this tradition, and thanks to him and his approach, Los Nogales is a center of innovation and information for all the proactive farmers in the area.
COUNTRY
Colombia
REGION
Bruselas, Huila
FARM
Finca Los Nogales
ALTITUDE
1600 – 2000 m
SIZE OF THE FARM
24 ha
COFFEE VARIETIES
More than 13 varieties such as Týpica, Orange Bourbon, Pink Bourbon, Yellow Bourbon, Red Bourbon, Caturra, Castillo, Colombia, Sudan Rume
ABOUT THE FARM
Finca Los Nogales is a family farm, or rather a company that combines tradition with innovation. It is located in the hamlet of El Diamante, just outside the town of Bruselas in the southern part of the department of Huila. The farm was founded by members of the Hernandez family around 1940. Its tradition and focus on growing the best coffee was then developed by Mr Ricaurte Hernandéz. After his death, it was unclear for a while what would become of this farm. About six years ago, however, the farm began to prosper under the stewardship of Oscar Hernandéz, Mr Ricaurte’s son, and is now a model for farmers throughout the area.
The three pillars of the Finca Los Nogales approach:
1. Terroir – the land gives us life and gives it to the coffee plants that grow on it. Los Nogales is aware of this. If we just exploit the land and don’t take care of it, we will soon have no place to grow coffee. In contrast to intensive farming and the conventional approach to fertilization, the entire Los Nogales team is thinking about long-term sustainability. They are replacing commercial intensive single-component fertilizers with complex organic humus processed from their own coffee processing residues. They are also gradually planting the coffee plants further apart on the plantations, reducing the demands on the land. While less intensive, but also less concentrated and more complex cultivation yields less in the short term, it ensures that in the long term the same land can be used to grow coffee for generations to come.
2. Genetics – the second important ingredient in coffee production is genetic material. That is, the varieties you choose to work with. At Los Nogales Farm you will find traditional indigenous varieties of Arabica that have been grown in Colombia since the 18th century, such as Týpica, newer hardier varieties such as Castillo or Colombia, but also exotic varieties imported from other countries and continents such as Gesha or Sudan Rume.
3. Science and passion – at Los Nogales, the focus is on innovation. The coffee world is constantly evolving and its connection with scientific knowledge is becoming more and more commonplace, or rather a necessity. Oscar therefore relies on the experience of a biochemist, an agricultural engineer, a microbiologist, as well as an experienced accountant and a very capable manager himself. The passion for what they do is not lacking in anyone, they pull together and if they have any differences of opinion, they take them as an asset.
ABOUT THE PROCESSES
Coffee processing: hand-picked, only ripe cherries are hand-picked from the tree. The selection continues by immersing the whole cherries in tanks of water and removing the floating beans called flotes. This ensures that only the best cherries undergo the fermentation process. The cherries thus sorted and washed are then disinfected with ozone before processing. This step ensures that the content of undesirable microorganisms is kept to a minimum.
Each variety and each individual microlot has its own ‘recipe’. For some, a thermal (heat) shock is used to start the fermentation process, for others, simple oxidation is sufficient. Both, however, as Oscar described to us during his visit, help to kick-start the breakdown of sugars in the flesh of the coffee cherries and thus ensure the smooth running of the subsequent fermentation processes.
The microlots then go into the depulper, a grinder that strips the coffee of its skins. The coffee husks contain valuable sugary juice, which Los Nogales squeezes and uses for fermentation. So the dehulled coffee beans go on to ferment in plastic barrels, mixed with a little water and a sweet, viscous liquid.
It then depends on what fermentation process we want for the lot, whether we want lactic acid fermentation to predominate or another, or a combination of the two. Accordingly, microorganisms such as lactobacilli are added to the barrels.
After fermentation, the next important step is the drying process, during which the grain is preserved. If we dry the coffee too quickly and abruptly, it will not be stable. In Los Nogales, they dry the fermented microlots for 21 days until they reach the ideal moisture content of between 10 % and 12 %.
As Los Nogales focuses on sustainable coffee farming, one of the key processes is the treatment of wastewater. The farm has its own wastewater treatment plant.
Caturra - washed, fermented (LOT CO-23-009)
The Týpica variety was used to process this lot in seven steps:
- Hand picking of cherries.
- Oxidation – the cherries are piled into a large mass and allowed to oxidize, the temperature in the flesh rises to 50 degrees. The oxidation time was 50 hours.
- Washing and removal of floaters, disinfection of washed cherries with ozone.
- Peeling the cherries.
- Squeezing the juice out of the skins and mixing this liquid with the peeled grains in fermentation plastic barrels. Addition of the required acetic bacteria.
- Fermentation for 144 hours.
- Washing and drying for 20 days.
Týpica - washed, fermented (LOT CO-23-010)
The Týpica variety was used to process this lot in seven steps:
- Hand picking of cherries.
- Oxidation – the cherries are piled into a large mass and allowed to oxidize, the temperature in the flesh rises to 50 degrees. The oxidation time was 50 hours.
- Washing and removal of floaters, disinfection of washed cherries with ozone.
- Peeling the cherries.
- Squeezing the juice out of the skins and mixing this liquid with the peeled grains in fermentation plastic barrels. Addition of the required heterofermentative microorganisms.
- Fermentation for 144 hours.
- Washing and drying for 20 days.
Colombia - washed, fermented (LOT CO-23-011)
The Colombia variety was used to process this lot in seven steps:
- Hand picking of cherries.
- Heat shock – the cherries were immersed in water at 80 degrees for 30 to 60 seconds.
- Washing and removal of floaters, disinfection of washed cherries with ozone.
- Peeling the cherries.
- Squeezing the juice out of the skins and mixing this liquid with the peeled grains in fermentation plastic barrels. Addition of the required microorganisms, in this case such as to ensure both lactic and alcoholic fermentation.
- Fermentation for 200 hours.
- Washing and drying for 20 days.
Yellow Bourbon - washed, fermented (LOT CO-23-012)
The Yellow Bourbon variety was used to process this lot in seven steps:
- Hand picking of cherries.
- Oxidation – the cherries are piled into a larger mass and allowed to oxidize, the temperature in the flesh rises to 50 degrees. The oxidation time was 50 hours.
- Washing and removal of floaters, disinfection of washed cherries with ozone.
- Peeling the cherries.
- Squeezing the juice out of the skins and mixing this liquid with the peeled grains in fermentation plastic barrels. Addition of the required acetic bacteria.
- Fermentation for 144 hours.
- Washing and drying for 20 days.
Týpica - washed, fermented (LOT CO-23-013)
The Týpica variety was used to process this lot in seven steps:
- Hand picking of cherries.
- Heat shock – cherries were immersed in water at 80 degrees for 30 to 60 seconds.
- Washing and removal of floaters, disinfection of washed cherries with ozone.
- Peeling the cherries.
- Squeezing the juice out of the skins and mixing this liquid with the peeled grains in fermentation plastic barrels. Addition of the required microorganisms, in this case such as to ensure both lactic and alcoholic fermentation.
- Fermentation for 210 hours.
- Washing and drying for 20 days.
Orange Bourbon - washed, fermented (LOT CO-23-014)
The Orange Bourbon variety was used to process this lot in seven steps:
- Hand picking of cherries.
- Heat shock – the cherries were immersed in water at 80 degrees for 30 to 60 seconds.
- Washing and removal of floaters, disinfection of washed cherries with ozone.
- Peeling the cherries.
- Squeezing the juice out of the skins and mixing this liquid with the peeled grains in fermentation plastic barrels. Addition of the required microorganisms, in this case such as to ensure the lactic fermentation process.
- Fermentation for 220 hours.
- Washing and drying for 20 days.
Yellow Colombia - washed, fermented (LOT CO-23-015)
The Yellow Colombia variety was used to process this lot in seven steps:
- Hand picking of cherries.
- Oxidation – the cherries are piled into a large mass and allowed to oxidize, the temperature in the flesh rises to 50 degrees. The oxidation time was 50 hours.
- Washing and removal of floaters, disinfection of washed cherries with ozone.
- Peeling the cherries.
- Squeezing the juice out of the skins and mixing this liquid with the peeled grains in fermentation plastic barrels. Addition of the required lactic bacteria.
- Fermentation for 144 hours.
- Washing and drying for 20 days.
