What Variety is Colombian Big Navel Coffee Bean? How to Brew Finca La Divisa Big Navel?

"Why is this coffee called Big Navel?"

This is a question that N friends ask when looking at FrontStreet Coffee's bean menu blackboard! But indeed, not only on FrontStreet Coffee's menu, the name "Big Navel" seems out of place wherever it appears, making it more eye-catching than other coffees! The reason it's called Big Navel, some friends might have already guessed, is due to its appearance. More precisely, the appearance characteristics of its fruit bear some resemblance to a navel.

What is Big Navel?

The fruit of the Big Navel variety has a very significant characteristic - not just resembling a navel, but being large! Compared to regular Arabica varieties, both its fruit and beans are larger in size, similar to Maragogype and Pacamara beans. Since the beans are equally large, this requires coffee farmers to specifically adjust their machines when processing them. Otherwise, due to the small spacing and large beans, machines can easily damage the coffee beans during pulp removal.

The reason it's named "Navel" is somewhat similar to the navel orange variety in citrus fruits: because there's a naturally formed navel-like structure at the bottom of the fruit! This morphological feature closely resembles a human navel, so coffee farmers named it "Ombligon" (Ombligon is Spanish for "navel" or "belly").

Origin and Cultivation

Currently, the Big Navel variety is mainly cultivated in the Huila region of Colombia. Like most rare varieties discovered in Colombia, local farmers who grow it were initially unaware of its identity, only knowing it might be a natural mutation from Ethiopia. Later, genetic testing by World Coffee Research confirmed this, as the variety contains 60% Ethiopian landrace genes and 40% Colombian coffee genes.

Colombian coffee farmers discovered that possibly because this variety is a natural mutation, it shares some appearance characteristics with Colombia's native Caturra variety. For example, the plant's leaves are equally broad, coffee fruit distribution is very dense, branches grow vertically, and it has extremely high yields.

However, some Colombian coffee professionals believe Big Navel might have mutated from other varieties such as Pacamara, Bourbon, or even Castillo. Because this variety has strong resistance to coffee leaf rust, farmers don't need to worry much about its health - it's very easy to cultivate.

Flavor Profile and Recognition

Due to its high yield and disease resistance characteristics, farmers in the Huila region began growing the Big Navel variety. After testing, it was found that Big Navel grown at 1600m~1800m altitude has the best flavor. And speaking of flavor, FrontStreet Coffee must discuss it in detail, because Big Navel's flavor is truly unique, so much so that we can often see Big Navel in various world-class coffee competitions.

Big Navel first made its mark at the 2023 WBC (World Barista Championship) finals, where Australian competitor Jack Simpson used Diviso Estate's Big Navel as his competition bean and achieved an impressive third place. According to post-competition interviews, Jack said he chose Big Navel because this bean has very complex and unique flavors, which perfectly matched his vision for a competition bean. Around the same time as the WBC, many other competitors also used Big Navel in competitions. Consequently, the Big Navel variety gradually became well-known to everyone.

FrontStreet Coffee naturally wouldn't miss out on this unique delicacy, so at the beginning of last year, FrontStreet Coffee added Diviso Estate · Big Navel to its menu, which became the trigger for the question mentioned at the beginning of this article.

FrontStreet Coffee's Big Navel Offering

FrontStreet Coffee: Colombia · Diviso Estate Big Navel

Region: Huila

Estate: Finca El Diviso

Altitude: 1700 meters

Processing: Double Anaerobic Natural

Variety: Big Navel

Flavor Notes: Grape, Orange, Blueberry, Pineapple Juice, Spices, Fermented Wine Aroma

Although these beans appear darker in color, somewhat like dark-roasted coffee beans, this is merely because the anaerobic processing caused more sugar to adhere to the coffee bean surface, resulting in stronger caramelization during roasting. In reality, it's still medium-light roasted, so FrontStreet Coffee recommends using parameters suitable for light roast coffee when brewing:

FrontStreet Coffee's Pour-Over Recommendations

Dripper: V60
Water Temperature: 90-93°C
Coffee Dose: 15g
Water Ratio: 1:15
Brew Time: 2 minutes
Grind Size: Coarse sugar (20# sieve 75% pass-through)

No kidding, the flavor is truly unique! At high temperatures, we can taste very clear blackcurrant flavors, accompanied by the sweet and sour notes of orange and pineapple, like tasting a blackcurrant-based mixed juice drink. Additionally, in the aftertaste after swallowing, we can perceive chocolate, spices, and fermented wine aromas - rich and distinctive layers, truly excellent!

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