MONOLITHOS, Colombia

This offering hails from the fertile slopes of Pitalito, Huila, a region long regarded as one of Colombia's most prized coffee producing territories. It is a distinct honour to present a lot cultivated by Nestor Lasso of Finca El Diviso, whose approach to coffee is marked not by convention, but by bold divergence.

El Diviso is not merely a farm, but a proving ground for the new vanguard of Colombian producers, those unafraid to challenge tradition in pursuit of greater truth in the cup. Alongside his brother Adrian and fellow producer Jhoan Vergara, Nestor has reimagined the family farm, transforming it into a sanctuary for varietal exploration and precise fermentation.

This particular lot bears the name Ombligon, a rare Ethiopian landrace known locally for its unusual form and expressive character. Its cultivation here is no accident, but part of a broader vision: to resurrect the forgotten, the heirloom, and the extraordinary, and to do so with scientific rigour and reverence.

Ombligon surrenders its intense aromatics and singular structure only to those willing to handle it with absolute precision, and at El Diviso the cherry is treated as a canvas for controlled fermentation. Nothing is left to chance. Temperature, oxygen, and time are each held under careful command, guiding the development of flavour rather than merely waiting on it. The journey begins in the field, where only fully ripe, high-density cherries are handpicked at their peak of sugar. These are then given a thermal shock, a warm immersion near 50°C that opens the pores of the fruit and rouses the microbial pathways within, priming the cherry for what follows.

Whole and unbroken, the cherries pass into sealed tanks where oxygen is drawn away. In this anaerobic quiet the fruit deepens, building the lactic structure, aromatic complexity, and vivid character the varietal is prized for. From there the coffee is dried slowly and evenly atop raised beds under closely watched conditions, the sugars and fermentation compounds settling fully into the seed. Once the target moisture is reached, the lot is rested and stabilised before milling, a final act of patience that lends the cup its clarity, consistency, and longevity. This is no ordinary natural. It is a precision-driven natural, engineered to lift the most expressive traits of Ombligon while holding them in balance.

This lot would not exist without the radical stewardship of Nestor Lasso, whose pursuit of the uncommon continues to shape Colombia's future in coffee. It is a testament to risk, repetition, and reverence for land, for legacy, and for the infinite potential hidden within a single seed.