Nelson Ruiz
Palestina, Huila · Colombia · 1740 masl
Overview
Nelson farms five hectares outside Palestina, in the south of Huila, which he bought in stages between 2009 and 2018. Huila is the most planted department in Colombia and the easiest place in the country to be anonymous. His answer to that was not a certification or a story; it was to build drying shade in a region where everyone dries in the sun, and then to wait out the two years it cost him.
The farm
Caturra and Colombia variety at 1740 masl, on ground that slopes hard enough that the older plots are terraced. Five hectares is large for the region and small for the volume buyers, which is roughly the position Nelson has chosen to stay in. Two harvests a year, main and mitaca; only the main crop is kept separate, and only the top pass of it reaches us.
Everyone here dries in the sun because it is faster. We built shade instead, and the first two years it cost us money.
Nelson Ruiz · Palestina, Huila
The process
Washed — pulped the day of picking, fermented thirty-six hours in tile tanks, washed and then dried sixteen days under shade rather than eight in the sun. The slow version costs him twice the drying space and half the throughput. What it buys is moisture that comes down evenly through the bean instead of racing at the surface, which is why this cup still tastes like red apple a year into the crop rather than like paper.
The coffee
Medium — first crack at 9:48, dropped at 11:48, 222.8 °C. The most forgiving coffee on this list and the one that took us longest to get right, which is not a contradiction: it will taste fine roasted three different ways, and only one of those tastes like the farm. The log note for the third attempt reads the bean is fine, it was me.
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