SEPTEMBER - Gelver Cuenca | Colombia - Semi-Washed - Geisha

SEPTEMBER Coffee Roasters is located in Ottawa, Canada

From SEPTEMBER

Our first time working with Gelver's coffee, this Geisha is sweet and delicate with a lemon candy like sweetness, and black tea florals. A rare Geisha in our Shower series, but one we felt fitting to distinguish for its round and sweet profile that could be enjoyed daily.

In the cup

We taste Meyer lemon and lemon candies, black tea florals and nectarine. This coffee has a light body, a juicy acidity and a round & sweet finish.

About The Producer

Gelver Cuenca is 37 years old and a father of two. He grows the Colombia, Caturra, Pink Bourbon, and Gesha varieties at his four-hectare finca La Soledad, located between 1850 and 1900 m.a.s.l in the vereda or township of Villa Colombia in the municipality of La Plata, which sits on Huila’s southwestern border with the department of Cauca.

Processing

Semi-washed - washed in the traditional manner, but rinsed to leave a small amount of the mucilage intact. Once the ripe cherry was hand-selected by Gelver and his pickers as well as family members, this Gesha variety micro lot was dried on parabolic greenhouse known as marquesinas in Colombia, specifically when they have moveable drying trays or beds inside.

Variety

This variety was originally collected from coffee forests in Ethiopia in the 1930s. From there, it was sent to the Lyamungu research station in Tanzania, and then brought to Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE) in Central America in the 1953, where it was logged as accession T2722. It was distributed throughout Panama via CATIE in the 1960s after it had been recognized for tolerance to coffee leaf rust. However, the plant's branches were brittle and not favored by farmers so it was not widely planted. The coffee came to prominence in 2005 when the Peterson family of Boquete, Panama, entered it into the "Best of Panama" competition and auction. It received exceptionally high marks and broke the then-record for green coffee auction prices, selling for over $20/pound.There is significant confusion about Geisha because there are multiple genetically distinct plant types that have been referred to as Geisha, many of which share similar geographic origins in Ethiopia. Recent genetic diversity analyses conducted by World Coffee Research confirm that Panamanian Geisha descendent from T2722 is distinct and uniform. It is associated with extremely high cup quality when the plants are managed well at high altitude, and is known for its delicate floral, jasmine, and peach-like aromas.