Colombia — Oscar Hernández Finca Nogales Typica (Washed — Mosto Decaf)

Tastes Like — 🍑 White Peach • 🍵 Milky Oolong • 🍈 Lychee

DETAILS

Producer: Oscar Hernández Farm: Finca Nogales Region: Bruselas, Pitalito, Huila, Colombia Varietal: Typica Process: Washed — Mosto Decaffeinated Altitude: 1,900 MASL

INTRO

This Typica from Finca Nogales is decaf built with the rigour and intention normally reserved for competition lots — a coffee designed not to conceal its nature but to fully express it. Silky and round, with white peach sweetness, a lifted milky oolong finish, and a tea-like delicacy that makes it as compelling to brew carefully as any fully caffeinated offering.

THE PRODUCER

The story of Finca Nogales begins some eighty years ago, when Ricardo Hernández and Concepción Castillo settled in Pitalito, Huila, with a vision to build a lasting legacy in coffee. Their son Ricaurte, born in 1952, became the driving force behind that ambition — a farmer of deep conviction who, together with his wife Suldery Arango, grew the family's coffee operation into one of Colombia's most recognised estates. In 2005, Los Nogales won first place at Colombia's inaugural Cup of Excellence, a landmark moment in the country's specialty coffee history.

Ricaurte's life was cut short by violence in 2013, and the family faced a moment of reckoning over the farm's future. It was Oscar Fernando, his youngest son and a former naval officer, who chose to honour his father's legacy rather than sell. Oscar brought with him a background in environmental management and a commitment to sustainable innovation, transforming Nogales into a modern production centre focused on research, soil health, organic inputs, and precise processing. Today, over thirty skilled pickers work the farm's meticulous harvests, selecting only the finest cherries — a reflection of the care embedded at every stage of production.

THE PROCESS

The Washed and Mosto Decaf process at Finca Nogales involves:

🍒 Hand-picking — Ripe Typica cherries selected with care across the harvest 💧 Flotation — Cherries immersed to remove defects before processing 🧪 Controlled fermentation — Fermented for 24 hours under managed conditions 💧 Washing — Thoroughly cleaned to remove fermentation by-products ☀️ Raised-bed drying — Slow-dried before hulling and final selection 🌿 Mosto immersion — Decaffeinated beans immersed in mosto, a natural solvent derived from coffee pulp, for 24 hours to gently draw out caffeine whilst preserving structure 💧 Final wash & re-drying — Thoroughly washed and dried for approximately five days to restore balance and integrity

The defining step is the mosto decaffeination — rather than stripping the coffee through an aggressive chemical process, the beans rest in a solvent derived from the farm's own coffee pulp, preserving the sweetness, clarity, and texture that make this Typica so expressive in the cup.

THE CUP

A landmark decaf and a testament to what precise processing — at every stage — can achieve. Finca Nogales' Typica is lighter and more lifted than its Caturra counterpart from the same farm, with a silky, tea-like finish that lingers long after the cup is empty. Proof, if any were needed, that decaf need not mean diminished.

Flavour Notes

🍑 White Peach 🍵 Milky Oolong 🍈 Lychee