Most producers we've featured have spent decades refining a process. Yessica Parra did the opposite story — and it's just as good a reason to pay attention.

A Family Legacy, Restarted

Yessica and Diego Parra are siblings from Pitalito, Huila, Colombia, and the fourth generation of a coffee-growing family. Their great-grandfather began farming coffee as a livelihood; that tradition passed through their grandfather, then their parents. But it wasn't until Yessica studied and later taught at SENA, Colombia's national training institution, that she saw specialty coffee's real potential — and she wasted no time bringing her brother into it.

Together, Yessica and Diego founded Diwan Coffee, initially as a passion project pursued alongside other jobs in the coffee industry. Over time, the passion project became the plan. They left their previous jobs, acquired their own land, and split the work according to their strengths: Diego focused on fermentation and varietal profiling, Yessica on cupping, logistics, and sourcing. The brand officially launched in November 2024.

El Mirador

Their farm, El Mirador, sits in the hills of Huila at 1,750 meters above sea level, on 7 hectares dedicated to experimental varieties and process work. It's home to Caturra, Pink Bourbon, Bourbon Ají, Papayo, Sidra, and Geisha — a lineup built around experimentation rather than volume. The harvest season runs October through January, worked by a team of six. Small in size. Serious in ambition.

A First Attempt at Thermal Shock

This particular lot, a Sidra variety, marks Yessica and Diego's first-ever experiment with thermal shock fermentation — a technique that also shows up elsewhere in our lineup, from a completely different farm and producer. The core idea is the same wherever it's used: heat, applied deliberately, changes how sugars and aromatics develop before drying locks the profile in. But every producer runs their own version of it, and this was Yessica and Diego's first time trying theirs.

The process starts with only the ripest cherries, hand-harvested and floated for a second round of selection. The cherries rest in open tanks for 24 hours to stabilize. Then hot water is introduced for 30 minutes, thermally stressing the cherries in a controlled way that encourages them to absorb more sugar and intensify their natural sweetness. From there, an 80-hour fermentation follows, enriched with carryover juice from previous fermentation batches for added depth. The coffee then dries on raised sun beds for 2-3 weeks, with mechanical dryers used to finish when weather doesn't cooperate.

What a First Export Tastes Like

The results: sweet, floral aroma with honeysuckle and hints of fresh citrus. A bright, playful first sip — Fruit Roll Ups and pink lemonade with clean, lively acidity. A smooth, well-rounded body that carries its sweetness through to a light, refreshing finish, with honeysuckle notes that linger.

 This is Yessica, one half of the sibling team behind Diwan Coffee and El Mirador.

We buy directly from Yessica and Diego, and we're planning to stay with Diwan Coffee as the operation grows past this first export. Four generations of family history led here — but this specific coffee only exists because two siblings decided to try something new with land their family has worked for generations.

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