Colombia - Julio Calderon - Washed Gesha

Gesha, the world's most storied and sought after coffee varietal, traces it's roots to the Gori Gesha coffee forest in Ethiopia where it grew native and wild possibly for millennia before being identified as a potential varietal for commercial cultivation in the 1930's.  Upon this identification, seeds were collected and sent to the Tengeru Coffee Research Station in Tanzania where the varietal was planted and stabilized.  

In 1953 Gesha seeds were sent to Costa Rica and the varietal spread to other Latin American countries throughout the 1960's.  Though, due to the variety's low production it was not a favored varietal until the rise of specialty coffee in the early 2000's. 

After a Panamanian Gesha from the Peterson family received, a then world record price of, $350/lb at the Best of Panama competition in 2005 a new light was shined on Gesha for its potential cup quality and resulting high value.  

In subsequent years the varietal has been planted throughout Latin America, Africa and Aisa by quality-focused producers looking to tap into the super-premium and botique coffee markets. It's typical for a Gesha varietal to break worldwide price records year after year with the most recent price record broken in 2024 by the Lamastus family, also in Panama, for a Gesha that sold at auction for $6,034/lb.   

The flavor profile and the high demand for the somewhat rare availability of Gesha are the main drivers of the incredibly high prices.  In the cup, Gesha is known for an incredible and complex flavor profile focused on floral and citrus aromas.  This usually presents itself as jasmine, lime, tropical fruit, tea, honey, melon.  The aroma if a truly great Gesha is intoxicating and should not be missed by any coffee lover. 

Julio used a fairly straightforward processing style for this coffee so as to not overshadow the delicate varietal characteristics innate to the coffee.  The coffee was processed in the fully-washed styled the major differences in Julio's process vs the traditional washed Colombian process are a longer fermentation time (24 hours vs the more common 12) and longer drying (2-3 weeks vs 1).  These slight modifications both increase the perceived brightness and sweetness and the clarity in the cup.

Huila is a mountainous region in southern Colombia with a longstanding tradition of and storied reputation for high-quality coffee production.  Huila is the epicenter of high-quality coffee production in Colombia.  All of the Huila coffees we buy are from farms in and around the small town of Palestina.  The area has two harvests a year, a main crop from October to January and a small (fly-crop) from May to July.  Most of the producers in the area are small-scale with farms between 1 and 3 hectares.  The producers we work with in Palestina are focused on growing high percentages of boutique varietals and they use processing methods that highlight both the varietal and terroir.  The combination of terroir, varietals grown and processing commonly used by the best producers in this micro-region result in coffees with high and complex acidity, full body and incredible sweetness.