The Coffee: 

Producer: Yessica Para

Farm: La MIrada

Processing: Thermal Shock

Varietal: Sidra

Tasting: Capri Sun, Blackberry, Fruit Punch

The Importer:

Unblended Coffee

Unblended Coffee was founded by siblings Lucas and Sofia Cuadros, who set out to rethink how Colombian coffee reaches the global specialty market.

Before entering coffee, Lucas ran a digital marketing company in the United States. While completing his MBA in 2019, he began exploring how storytelling and direct relationships could help producers gain more visibility and value for their coffees. That idea became the foundation for Unblended.

Lucas recognized that many Colombian producers had little connection to where their coffee ultimately ended up. Much of it moved through cooperatives and was blended into larger lots, making traceability and recognition difficult. At the same time, younger generations were increasingly leaving coffee farming behind.

To address this, Lucas partnered with his sister Sofia, a designer who joined the company in 2021. While Lucas focuses on sourcing and producer partnerships, Sofia helps shape the visual identity and storytelling that highlight each producer’s work.

Together they built Unblended around a simple idea. A producer’s name should be a brand. By working closely with young Colombian farmers experimenting with varieties and fermentation techniques, Unblended connects distinctive, traceable coffees with roasters looking for expressive and origin driven lots.

The Producer:

Yessica Para

Yessica Para is a coffee producer from the Huila region of southern Colombia, an area widely known for producing some of the country’s most expressive high elevation coffees.

Working at around 1800 meters above sea level, Yessica focuses on cultivating quality driven varieties while applying meticulous post harvest practices that highlight clarity and fruit expression in the cup. Huila’s volcanic soils, dramatic day to night temperature shifts, and high altitude growing conditions allow cherries to mature slowly, concentrating sugars and aromatic compounds before harvest.

Yessica represents a growing generation of Colombian producers who are combining traditional cultivation with modern fermentation techniques. By experimenting with controlled fermentation environments and advanced processing methods, she is able to produce coffees that push well beyond conventional profiles associated with washed Colombian lots.

Her work with Sidra, a variety celebrated for its aromatic complexity and vibrant acidity, reflects this commitment to quality and experimentation. Through careful cherry selection, precise fermentation control, and disciplined drying protocols, Yessica produces coffees that showcase both the distinctive character of the variety and the terroir of Huila.

The Coffee

Yessica Para • Thermal Shock Sidra

This lot features the Sidra variety, a cultivar believed to be a hybrid with Ethiopian lineage that is known for producing intensely aromatic and fruit forward coffees. Sidra has gained attention in recent years for its ability to deliver layered florality, vibrant acidity, and a silky texture when grown at high elevations.

The coffee is processed using a thermal shock fermentation, an increasingly popular technique among experimental Colombian producers.

The process generally follows several controlled stages:

• Selective harvesting of fully ripe cherries to ensure uniform sugar concentration
• Initial fermentation where naturally occurring yeasts begin metabolizing sugars within the fruit
• Thermal shock stage, where the coffee is exposed to a rapid shift in temperature through hot and cold water cycles
• Washing and controlled drying, stabilizing the coffee while preserving volatile aromatic compounds

The rapid temperature shift interrupts fermentation activity while helping lock in aromatic precursors developed during the earlier fermentation stage. When executed well, this process can enhance clarity while amplifying fruit intensity and sweetness.

In the cup, the result is a coffee with high fruit expression and vibrant intensity, presenting flavors reminiscent of:

• Capri Sun

• Blackberry

• Fruit Punch

The profile is vivid and playful, driven by expressive fruit character while still maintaining the structure and clarity that high elevation Colombian coffees are known for.