Colombia Los Nogales Tabi T.S. A.W.

This thermal-shock Tabi from Finca Los Nogales in Pitalito, Huila, Colombia drinks like a bowl of red berries lifted by pomegranate and white grape. That clean fruit is the point of the process: the Hernández family bathe the cherries hot then plunge them cold to knock back rogue microbes before fermentation, steering the cup sweeter and brighter.

The family behind the farm

Finca Los Nogales is a family farm run by the Hernández family (Oscar Fernando, Angie and Olga) in Pitalito, Huila. If the name rings a bell, it should. A Los Nogales lot placed second at the 2024 Czech Brewers Cup, and the farm supplied the decaf that won the 2024 US Brewers Cup. Both were different lots from this Tabi, but they tell you plenty about what this family's green coffee can do.

Thermal shock, in plain English

The process is Thermal Shock Anaerobic Washed, and it is as dramatic as it sounds. Right at the start, the cherries are bathed in hot water (around 80°C for roughly 20 seconds) then shocked into cold water (around 15°C). Borrowed from pasteurization, the hot phase knocks back stray microbes and switches off enzymes, while the cold snap stops the clock and locks in aromatics. The cherries are then de-pulped and fermented for about 72 to 90 hours with a yeast starter, then sun-dried for roughly two weeks. The Hernández family run this deliberately, chasing a cleaner, sweeter cup with more exotic fruit and less of the rough edge a wilder ferment can leave.

The varietal and the altitude

Tabi a Colombian variety bred to shrug off leaf rust, grown at 1,600 masl. Higher, cooler ground ripens cherries slowly, and slow ripening tends to pack in more sugar and cleaner acidity, which plays straight into that berry-and-grape profile.

In the cup

Expect red berries out front, with pomegranate and white grape on the nose and a soft osmanthus and melon sweetness underneath. If you have ever bitten into a cold, ripe jambu air, that crisp, watery-sweet snap is the register we are talking about. Clean, juicy and a little exotic, and easy to sit with.

Add a bag to cart and see what a decorated Huila farm's fermentation experiment reads like in your own brew style.