Colombia - El Paseo

TASTING NOTES

Jasmine, mandarin, lime, honey

WHY WE LIKE IT

A bright, floral coffee. The kind meant to be sipped slowly. Jasmine appears from the very first sip, clean and well-defined, quickly opening up to citrus fruit: first tangerine, ripe and juicy, followed by a hint of lime that adds sparkle and keeps it lively. A silky honey base softens the citrus and rounds out the profile. It is an elegant, delicate, and highly aromatic coffee that shines in a filter brew, perfect for those who enjoy discovering nuances in every cup.

HISTORY

Behind this coffee is Huver Castillo, a third-generation coffee grower in Nariño. Although coffee has always been a part of his family, until 2015 Huver dedicated himself to something else: he was a math teacher. That year, he decided to change course and immerse himself in the family farms. And, curiously, something from that stage has stayed with him: measuring, noting, testing, and repeating until he understands what is happening. A way of working that comes in especially handy here.

The farm is called El Paseo and is located near Buesaco, on the Suma Paz route. The Castillo family has been working this land for more than twenty years and owns a total of three farms. The coffee grows between 1,750 and 1,950 meters above sea level, in volcanic soils and under native shade: among the trees that were already there, rather than in full sun.

That shade changes things quite a bit. The fruit ripens more slowly, and you have to return to the farm several times to harvest only the cherries that are at their peak. It is more work, of course, and it also means producing fewer kilos per hectare. But it is part of what allows a lot like this to reach the cup exactly as it should.

Buesaco is one of Nariño's benchmark coffee-growing municipalities. It is an area of very steep slopes, small farms, and families who have been working the same plots for generations. Here, almost everything is done by hand, largely because the terrain does not offer many other options. It is not an area of large estates or machinery: it is an area of doing things with calm and great detail.

Nariño, moreover, is one of those places that makes Colombian coffee so interesting. It is in the southwest of the country, next to Ecuador and very close to the equator, and it allows coffee to be grown at altitudes where, in other places, it would be much more difficult. The days can be warm and the nights quite cold, so the fruit ripens slowly and concentrates everything we want to find in the cup.

It is also a less traveled region than the Coffee Axis or Huila, with less volume and considerably more complicated logistics. That is why, outside of Colombia, Nariño lots appear in dribs and drabs.

A Gesha from Nariño is not something we come across every day: it is a demanding variety, not very widespread in Colombia, and one that requires considerable attention to give everything it can. Finding it in the hands of a producer like Huver, working a small lot with this level of care, is undoubtedly something special.

VARIETY AND PROCESS

Gesha is a variety originating from Ethiopia that arrived in Central America in the mid-20th century. For years it went quite unnoticed, until it began to appear in cups with a very recognizable profile: lots of florals, citrus, delicate fruits, and an especially clean and aromatic sensation.

It is not an easy variety in the field either. It produces little, needs altitude and plenty of attention, and is more delicate than other more common varieties. In return, when it finds the right conditions, it has an ability to provide very particular aromas and flavors. That is why it is one of the most sought-after varieties in specialty coffee and remains relatively uncommon in Colombia.

This lot is processed as a washed coffee, but with a subsequent fermentation. First, the fruit pulp is removed and the coffee is washed before drying, seeking that clean and defined cup we associate with washed coffees.

Then comes the most unique part of the process: the coffee ferments for about 210 hours in a closed tank with controlled temperature. It is a long fermentation, intended to add more complexity and aromatic depth without masking what the geisha already has.

Once finished, the coffee is sun-dried on a patio for between 10 and 20 days and then rests for another month in GrainPro bags before traveling. A long and quite meticulous process to ensure that everything in the fruit reaches the cup as intact as possible.

RECIPE

We use 18 grams of ground coffee and 306 grams of final water at 93 ºC. We perform three pours. The first of 54 grams, we wait 45 seconds and perform two pours of 126 grams in a total time of 2’40”