Colombia
Julio Cesar Madrid
La Riviera
Risaralda
1750 masl
Gesha
Washed
Green apple, caramel, lime.
In the cup: Undoubtedly top shelf, this Gesha from Julio Cesar Madrid is leaving us a little lost for words. It's one of those coffees that simply put "wants for nothing". It has the elegance, sophistication, and poise you expect from a Gesha, but with sweetness, silkiness, and balance. A crisp acidity up front almost immediately mellows into a creamy caramel body with lingering florals and lime. What really makes this "Top Shelf" though, is how all these things come together to enhance the cup--and are not in conflict but in harmony! Add to this combination of complexity and balance those unmistakable Gesha florals, and it's clear why this brew is one of our favourites of the year.
Same farm, different beans: Sitting at an elevation of 1750 meters above sea level, the 40-hectare La Riviera farm has fortuitous positioning and enviable temperature stability--just 18-28C all year round! In most cases, farms will cultivate one varietal or maybe two, but due to La Riviera's experience and incredible coffee goldilocks zone, the La Riviera farm cultivates more than ten different coffee varietals--the most varietals among its related farms.
Picking: The cherry is selectively picked, removing any suboptimal under/over-ripe cherry. Once only the chosen cherries remain, the coffee cherry is fermented for 28-32 hours and then fully washed with lots of fresh water.
Drying: The drying phase beings with the seed spending several days in the solar dryer--this initial "fast drying" phase prevents any additional undesired fermentation from taking place. Once this phase is complete, the coffee seed is moved to shaded raised beds, where it continues to dry until optimal moisture stability is achieved. The results are a clean, consistent, and complex coffee that honestly represents the terroir of this unique land and farm.
Gesha up and away: Like a superhero from your favourite comic book--the Gesha varietal comes from humble beginnings, slowly gaining recognition before crescendoing to a meteoric rise that can only be described as legendary.
Originally from the Gori Gesha forest in Ethiopia, its seedlings were first collected in the 1930s by the British Consul Richard Whally. In the 1950s, Gesha reached the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Centre in Costa Rica. Ten years or so later, a Costa Rican government official visited the facility in search of new potential varietals to grow in Costa Rica. Intrigued by Gesha's potential, the government official selected a handful of lucky producers and dispensed the unusual seeds. One such producer to receive the elliptical seeds was the relatively unknown but now legendary Hacienda La Esmeralda. This coffee varietal migration would ultimately bring it to the specialty coffee world's collective consciousness.
Gesha in Colombia: The Gesha varietal was introduced to Colombia as part of a ten-year project to increase botanical diversity in Colombia--fortunately for us, the results were way too good to ignore.