The Variety: Sidra's Journey from Ecuador to the World Stage

Sidra is one of specialty coffee's most captivating — and most debated — varieties. Known also as Bourbon Sidra or simply Sydra, it first gained international attention through competition coffees from Ecuador, where it demonstrated an almost bewildering combination of high sweetness, vibrant acidity, and layered floral and fruit complexity. The variety is rare, demanding to grow, and rewarding in ways few others can match. At Finca El Diviso, it became the vehicle for one of Colombian specialty coffee's most celebrated achievements.

Origins: A Nestlé Laboratory in Pichincha

The most widely accepted account of Sidra's origins traces it to a Nestlé-operated coffee breeding laboratory in the Pichincha province of Ecuador, sometime in the 1990s. The facility was reportedly developing hybrid varieties using Ethiopian heirloom genetics and Bourbon, with dual aims of improving cup quality and yield. Whether Sidra was an intentional cross or an accidental discovery remains unclear. What is documented is that a field technician named Don Olger Rogel identified seeds producing exceptional sensory profiles at the lab and played a central role in distributing them to farms across Ecuador — also introducing the sister variety now known as Typica Mejorada.

One of the first farms to cultivate Sidra commercially was La Palma y El Tucán in Cundinamarca, Colombia, which planted around 1,800 trees in 2012 and added more than 4,000 additional trees in 2015 as specialty interest grew. By 2019, Sidra had reached the World Barista Championship finals — placing first and third at the WBC that year, both using Sidra from La Palma y El Tucán. The variety's international trajectory was now unstoppable.

The Genetics Debate

The World Coffee Research Institute has studied Sidra samples and found no clearly identifiable single genetic identity, complicating all three hypotheses. What the testing does confirm is that Sidra is genetically distinct from standard Bourbon and Typica — and that some samples show strong affinity with Ethiopian landrace populations, placing it in a cluster alongside Pink Bourbon, Chiroso, and other East African-heritage varieties that have appeared across Colombia and Ecuador. The mystery, as Ozone Coffee's deep-dive on the variety notes, is very much part of the story.

Sidra at Finca El Diviso

Nestor Lasso and his team treat Sidra as El Diviso's flagship variety. Planted at the farm's upper elevations — between 1,750 and 1,850 metres above sea level — under shade from native and fruit trees, the plants mature slowly. Cool nights and mild days extend the cherry development cycle, concentrating sugars and building the aromatic complexity that makes Sidra so compelling in the cup. The volcanic soils of Huila provide mineral richness, and the farm's position near Pitalito gives access to a climate that, while sometimes challenging, consistently rewards patience and precision.

Nestor's philosophy toward Sidra is one of varietal purity combined with processing precision. Rather than using fermentation to overwrite the variety's natural character, his protocols are designed to amplify what is already there: the florality, the tropical fruit clarity, the round sweetness. The result is a coffee that reads as both intensely processed and genuinely varietal — a balance that is exceptionally hard to achieve.

The Farm: Finca El Diviso Revisited

Finca El Diviso spans 14.5 hectares near Pitalito in Huila's southern coffee belt, operated jointly by brothers Nestor and Adrian Lasso alongside neighbour Jhoan Vergara of Las Flores. The farm sits on the fertile volcanic slopes characteristic of Huila, where mineral-rich soils, abundant rainfall, and temperature variation between day and night create some of Colombia's most complex coffee terroir.

Nestor grew up in Normandía, near Pitalito, the son of commodity coffee farmers. He and Adrian took over the family farm and made a deliberate shift toward specialty production, training through SENA's specialty coffee processing programme and building processing infrastructure — fermentation tanks, drying equipment, quality control tools — that allow precise, repeatable results. The collaboration with Cata Export (founded by former UK baristas Cat and Pierre) has provided export logistics, market access, and a co-development framework for new processing protocols.

Together, the farm now cultivates a portfolio of rare varieties — Sidra, Gesha, Ombligon, Bourbon Ají, Chiroso, Pink Bourbon, and Yellow Papayo — each processed with individual protocols tuned to their specific genetic characteristics.

The Process: Multi-Stage Fermentation

Nestor produces Sidra in both washed and natural versions depending on the harvest and the lot. The natural process is the more competition-prominent of the two, producing an explosively aromatic cup with tropical fruit intensity. The washed version showcases the variety's clarity, florality, and elegant acidity with less fermentation influence. Both share the same precision approach to cherry selection and fermentation management.

Natural / Anaerobic Process

1. Selective hand-harvest at peak ripeness — cherries with 24–26 Brix prioritised; overripe and underripe removed by hand.
2. 12–18 hours of whole-cherry oxidation in open vessels at max 25°C — aerobic fermentation begins, building initial complexity.
3. 36–40 hours of anaerobic fermentation in sealed bags or tanks — no oxygen; controlled temperature between 17–25°C. In some lots, Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast is introduced.
4. Leachate (fermentation juice) collection and reintroduction — submerged fermentation for approximately 24 hours with constant recirculation, adding depth and sweetness.
5. Thermal shock — rapid temperature shift arrests microbial activity, locking volatile aromatic compounds into the bean.
6. Drying on raised beds — 15–20 days to target moisture, with mechanical drying for final adjustment.

Washed Process

1. Selective harvest and floating to remove defects.
2. Depulping after a brief oxidation period.
3. Controlled dry fermentation for approximately 24 hours — pH and temperature monitored throughout.
4. Thermal shock wash — alternating hot and cold water stops fermentation and fixes flavour precursors.
5. Drying on raised beds under shade until target moisture reached.

Sidra vs Ombligon: Two Faces of El Diviso

Finca El Diviso has become closely associated with two varieties above all others: Sidra and Ombligon. While both are rare, both linked to possible Ethiopian heritage, and both processed with Nestor's multi-stage protocols, they present very differently in the cup. Sidra is the more elegant of the two — floral, tropical, and refined, with a clarity that rewards careful extraction. Ombligon is more intense and fruit-bomb forward — darker berry character, deeper sweetness, and a structural density that approaches wine in its complexity. Sidra won the WBC; Ombligon placed third. Both are competition-grade coffees by any measure, and both are available at BrewFusion from multiple roasters who source directly from El Diviso through Cata Export.

Brew Guide

Sidra natural is one of the most versatile competition coffees available — it performs brilliantly as filter, espresso, and in milk. The washed version suits those who prefer clarity and florality over fruit intensity.