Ombligón
Colombia (Huila) · the last decade · a natural mutation
also “big belly button”, for the dimple on the bean
“A snow cone melting on the Huntington boardwalk in August.”
Why this place
The Huntington boardwalk in August is crowded, hot and extremely sweet. Somebody is always eating something that is going to end up on their hands. The pier is full, the light is hard, and a paper cone of shaved ice is melting through its own bottom onto the rail.
Ombligón tastes exactly like that. Syrupy, coating, red berry going to cola going to outright confectionery when it has been processed hard. It does not have a subtle setting.
It is also brand new. It turned up on farms in Huila within the last decade, apparently as a natural mutation, and the genetics are still being argued about — the plant behaves like a Caturra and the cup very much does not. The name means big belly button, for the dimple where the bean meets the stem.
- In the cup
- Syrupy, silky, coating. Red berry and cola through to outright confectionery when processed hard
- Lineage
- Genetics still being worked out; the plant behaves like Caturra and the cup does not
- Grown
- Huila and Cauca, Colombia. Barely anywhere else yet
- Altitude
- 1,500–1,900 m
- Brew it as
- Immersion — Clever, French press, cold brew. The body is the point, do not filter it away
Our opinion
Brew it as immersion. This is the whole trick. The body is the point of this coffee, and a paper filter strips exactly the thing you paid for.
Clever dripper, French press, or cold brew. We have had the same lot through a Hario cold brewer, a V60 and a Clever, and it went jammy and soupy through all three — which is unusual, because those are three very different contact profiles. When a coffee lands in the same place regardless of method, the lot is telling you what it is.
The one caution: a lot of Ombligón is processed extremely hard, and past a point you are tasting the fermentation rather than the variety. If the bag reads like a cocktail menu, it probably is one.
Sources
Out past the break
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