My Friend’s Coffee
Los Angeles, CA, USA
The Gesha cultivar is one talented little plant. Originating in Ethiopia, it pairs sweet, floral, and citrus with matchless results. Gesha coffees have become mainstays at competitions, landing podiums and gathering ribbons the world over. The acclaim they draw is admittedly over-the-top, and you'd be forgiven for wondering whether the hype is just a touch overwrought. This offering answers that question in a single syllable. Nope. This coffee hails from Antioquia, one of the more esteemed growing regions in Colombia, and it lays bare the expertise of one of the area's more accomplished producers, Andres Sanchez. Andres' farm, Finca Don Sigi focuses on high-end varietals and second-to-none processing. This Gesha is a honey process of hand-selected cherries, first floated for ripeness, then sealed for a 72-hour fermentation period, then set to dry on raised beds for 7-9 days. Honeydew is the CEO of this brew, and it's commanding enough to justify a wingback chair. Its partner in crime—the COO to overextend our corporate metaphor—is orange blossom. Coffee roasters wax poetic about florals far too often, possibly more than florists, which bears negatively on both professions, but this cup justifies the verbiage. The orange blossom is undeniable, and it grows volcanic on the cool. Caramel corn sweetness binds the notes, and the sum of the equation is a perfect representation of the Gesha vibe. The cup clarity owes to the processing's immaculacy. These days, specialty producers seem increasingly into heavy processes like anaerobic or thermic. Don't get me wrong, those protocols yield incredible cups, but with Gesha, you don't want to taste process; you want to taste Gesha. And that's exactly what you get here.
Butter
Chocolate
Grapefruit
Type
Single Origin
Origin
Santa Bárbara, Antioquia, Colombia
Roast
Light
Species
Arabica
Varieties
Geisha/Gesha
Process
Honey
Altitude
1600m
Producer
Andres Sanchez
Farm
Don Sigi