Colombian Nariño Geisha – Villa Luciana – Natural Processed

Description

What is a Geisha coffee and why would I want to pay more for it?

Geisha is a selectively bred strain of coffee known for its overly floral, clean and sweet cup profile. Often top grades will sell for $90+ per pound roasted. The strain itself is fairly new, low yield plants that are very finicky. This unique cup profile accompanied with the growing issues (low yield, delicate strain) cause the price to be pretty astronomical. We at Burman Coffee tend to struggle with paying $50 plus for even unique coffee but are quick to grab a good deal that shows Geisha attributes, is fun to play with and a great deal for what it is. Not an award winning Geisha but very nice screen and bean size with clear Geisha attributes. A tasty cup.

Karen and Jose Gomez run the Cooperativa Cafes Especiales in Buesaco, the cooperative that builds several of the community lots and microlots that Ally sources from Nariño. Villa Luciana is named for Karen and Jose’s daughter Luciana. This is the farm’s first crop of Gesha, which was given to Karen’ family by Pablo Andres Guerrero of Hacienda El Obraje.

Villa Luciana is just twenty minutes outside of the town of Buesaco, past the Buesaquito “barrio” or suburbs. Karen’s family has over fifty members, some working as professionals in different parts of Colombia with families and kids, while others remain where the family’s roots are, in the mountains between Buesaco and the city of Pasto, the capital of the Nariño department. Karen’s father, Hermes Chávez, is a retired livestock trader, known as a “ganadero.” His six brothers have also devoted the greatest part of their lives to the argoindustry: grains, plants, vegetables and coffee.

Tasting Notes:
A top notch very fruit forward coffee. Lighter roasts have nice sweet lemony acidity with strong red fruit tones accompanied with some tea-like spice. Pretty front loaded cup at the light roasts, not much for chocolaty or nutty tones but a wonderful tasty, clean and exotic cup as long as you like some acidity. Medium roasts give much more of a jammy body and less citric tones leaving the red fruit notes to shine through, a bit of darker toned balance can be found, more of a chocolaty cup with some dry nuttiness in the aftertaste. A good roast if you generally do not like lighter roast points. Dark roasts burn out most of the fruit tones but not quite all (which is a bit rarer for dark roast) for a rich, roasty and chocolaty cup.

Roasting Notes:
Pretty high chaff, good to drop batch sizes a little. A light to dark roast offering but when your paying up for a Geisha, it is mainly for the light to medium roast fans. Geisha coffees are all about the lighter tones, which will burn out at darker roasts. If you are shooting for a light roast, drag out the profile a bit; the beans will still be a bit splotchy in color, medium roast is right as the splotchy color goes solid and a slight sheen can be seen. Setup is key with this bean – try to wait at least 24-48 hours before drinking.