This coffee comes to us through our great friend Nate Grant at Falcon Coffees in Austin, Texas.
Falcon has been part of our sourcing story for years, especially when we are looking for coffees that are not only high quality, but genuinely distinct. They have a way of finding experimental lots that still feel intentional and composed, rather than strange for the sake of being strange. This coffee is a perfect example of that.
Nestor Lasso is not a new name to us. In fact, Arrott’s favorite coffee Peregrine has ever sourced came through Falcon and from this same producer. So when we had the opportunity to bring in another coffee from Nestor, especially one this expressive, it felt like a natural fit for Peregrine Gold.
This is only the second coffee we have ever released under the Peregrine Gold name.
That matters to us. Peregrine Gold is not just a label for expensive coffee. It is reserved for coffees that feel rare, memorable, and worth slowing down for. These are the lots that stand apart from the table, not because they are loud, but because they have a kind of clarity and presence that makes you pay attention.
Nestor Lasso and his brother Adrian are part of a younger generation of Colombian producers who have become known for pushing specialty coffee forward through careful, experimental processing. At El Diviso in Huila, they have taken the foundation of their family’s coffee background and built something more focused, more technical, and more expressive. Their work has helped make Huila one of the most exciting regions in Colombia for coffees that are both beautiful and deeply intentional.
Bourbon Ají is a striking variety. It is considered a mutation of an Ethiopian landrace, and it gets its name from the pepper-like quality of the mucilage. Ají means pepper, and while this coffee does not taste like a pepper, there is something vivid and aromatic about the variety that makes it stand apart.
Nestor’s Bourbon Ají Thermal Shock is a deeply intentional coffee from start to finish. The process begins with floating the cherries to select only the best and ripest fruit. From there, the coffee undergoes anaerobic fermentation in whole cherry for 40 hours in closed containers at cool temperatures between 16 and 18 degrees Celsius.
After that, the cherries are moved into a larger tank for a 20 hour oxidation process, where the leachates are collected and saved for a later stage. The coffee is then pulped and undergoes another 20 hour oxidation with the mucilage still present.
The next stage is a submerged fermentation at 39 degrees Celsius for 12 hours. During this phase, the previously collected leachates are added back into the coffee, and the mixture is stirred occasionally so the liquids remain even and integrated. The mucilage is not entirely removed during this stage, which helps preserve sweetness, texture, and depth.
To finish the fermentation, the coffee is washed with hot water between 65 and 70 degrees Celsius. This thermal shock helps stabilize the coffee and lock in the work that has already happened through fermentation. After washing, the coffee is dried slowly in parabolic dryers for 18 to 24 days until it reaches 11 percent moisture, with drying temperatures kept below 30 degrees Celsius.
This is a highly technical process, but the cup does not feel technical.
It feels bright, sweet, and layered. We are tasting peach ring, key lime pie, and apricot. There is a candy-like fruit quality up front, followed by a creamy citrus sweetness and a soft stone fruit finish. It is expressive without being chaotic, and complex without losing balance.
We are grateful to Nate and the team at Falcon for continuing to bring coffees like this within reach, and to Nestor Lasso for the kind of work that makes a coffee feel both experimental and beautiful.
Nestor’s Bourbon Ají Thermal Shock is exactly the kind of coffee Peregrine Gold was created for.
Profile
- Series: Peregrine Gold
- Roast: Light
- Origin: Bruselas, Huila, Colombia
- Producer: Nestor Lasso
- Farm: El Diviso
- Coffee: Nestor’s Bourbon Ají Thermal Shock
- Variety: Bourbon Ají
- Process: Thermal Shock Washed
- Elevation: 1,750 MASL
- Partner: Falcon Coffees
- Cup: Peach Ring, Key Lime Pie, Apricot
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