Gesha for non-billionaires
Our mission to bring specialty coffee to the masses has been fraught with challenges, but this is somewhat of a nadir so far: we’ve brought Gesha to the UK for under a tenner. (Albeit, in a slightly smaller bag to normal, and for a limited time.) Grab some while it lasts, there isn’t a lot.
Gesha 101
Just in case you don’t know about Gesha (aka. “Geisha”, although often considered Anglicised) — it’s a prized varietal that has broken auction records for coffee all around the world and is now found growing in countries including Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Ethiopia, with more countries being added to the list each year.
Many associate Gesha with the Central American region, however, it actually originates from its namesake, Gesha, a place in the South West of Ethiopia and was introduced to Panama in the 1960s, and then later again from Panama to Costa Rica. 2017 has seen the famed Finca La Esmeralda (the farm of our popular “Esmeralda” batch of coffee – hopefully to make a return in 2018) top the Best of Panama auction with a mind boggling $601/lb (approx. £982/kg) — the most ever recorded for green coffee.
Gesha is prized for its delicate floral and tea-like attributes, smoothness in body and taste as well as its relative scarcity, which also contributes to the price drive of this coffee.
It’s all in the family
Much like our Ato, we thought we’d attribute this coffee’s name to the people who work so hard behind the scenes. The Sanchez family is now into its fifth generation maintaining the venerable Tarrazu estate of La Candelilla. The family, spread among nine brothers and sisters, managed individual plots up until 2000 when they pulled their resources together to create the farm and its micro mill.
La Candelilla now produces 1,000 bags per season, with a host of varietals being grown including native Caturra and Catuai, the Kenyan SL-28 as well as planting lots of the ubiquitous Gesha every year.
La Candelilla is considered one of the best estates in Costa Rica and has placed at Cup of Excellence in the past.
Can you taste it?
We’ve gone for the washed process variant here which is more universally accepted by most tastebuds and is well presented here with the signature smoothness of a Geisha. The fruity strawberry note is super smooth, not harsh like some fruit notes can be found elsewhere and indeed, smooth is the key descriptor here as the sweetness pushes through the fruit notes and mellows into a lingering butteriness of vanilla and sticky nougat. Make sure to use your nose all the way through to fully appreciate the complexity found in this cup.
Our recommendation
This needs to be taken black and we’d recommend using a delicate filter brew like the V60 or Kalita wave. You may also try this on espresso which really brings some of the hidden qualities to the fore, but loses others.
Extra notes
Please note that these comes in 150g bags compared to our normal 200g bags. These are only roasted in one particular way, which is fairly light to protect the delicate volatiles, so there are no roast options on this coffee.
Enjoy – we believe we may have brought a quality Gesha from an established farm to the masses at the best value yet seen in the UK!
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