"Upon grinding, ripe banana jumps out with papaya and juicy red grape. On the palate it’s smoothie-sweet and coating, with banana leading and grapes rounding it out. The finish is long and indulgent, lingering like ripe banana."

Los Nogales is a Hernández family farm in southern Huila that has evolved across generations from a traditional estate into a tightly managed specialty project. The current direction is defined by a blend of inherited agronomic knowledge and a deliberate, technical approach to post-harvest control. Rather than treating processing as a fixed recipe, the team builds repeatability through separation of lots, measurement, and constant refinement of protocols. That philosophy shows up in how they organize harvest selection, fermentation environments, and stabilization before export. The goal is consistency at high resolution: fewer “estate averages,” more clearly defined, traceable profiles.

The farm sits on the slopes around Pitalito in Huila, a landscape where elevation, wind, and daily temperature swings create meaningful differences between nearby plots. In this part of the Andes, slower cherry maturation is common, supporting higher density and steadier sugar development compared to lower, warmer valleys. Soils and exposure vary from ridge to ridge, which is why Los Nogales tends to frame coffees by specific lots rather than relying on broad regional descriptors. Drying behavior is also highly sensitive to microclimate here, making airflow and humidity management central to the final quality. In practice, terroir expression is treated as something to be protected through careful post-harvest choices rather than left to chance.

Typica is the declared variety for this offering, and it is handled as a distinct identity rather than a background component of a blend. As an older Arabica lineage, Typica is often valued for clarity and structure when yields are managed and picking is selective. On farms that prioritize separation and process control, Typica can show a wide spectrum depending on fermentation discipline and drying pace. Los Nogales’ emphasis on genetics as a pillar of quality fits naturally with keeping Typica lots clearly delineated. The variety’s role here is not novelty, but precision: a clean genetic baseline that responds clearly to controlled processing.

Harvest begins with strict cherry selection and careful handling to keep incoming fruit uniform and clean before processing starts. From there, Los Nogales is known for using structured interventions such as short thermal steps and tightly managed fermentation environments to reduce variability and guide microbial activity. Fermentation is typically carried out in sealed or controlled vessels, often with temperature management, so time and conditions can be repeated from lot to lot. After fermentation, washing and drying are treated as continuation points of the process rather than simple finishing stages, with drying paced to protect sweetness, clarity, and stability. The coffee is then rested and warehoused under controlled conditions to stabilize moisture and preserve the intended profile through export.

The overall workflow is built around minimizing risk while keeping the cup character expressive, which is why multiple control points exist between cherry intake and final storage. Dedicated quality control and internal feedback loops help the team decide what stays as a single-lot release and what is redirected into other programs.

Variety : Typica
Altitude : 1,750–2,000 masl
Process : Washed (controlled Temp & Drying)
Origin : Pitalito, Huila.