“Probably one of the best coffees we’ve ever had on offer”. We said this sentence almost at the same time. We were originally supposed to have a competition coffee from the producers of Café Granja la Esperanza for the Brewers Cup, but unfortunately it didn’t get delivered in time. Once we were in contact with them though, we thought we’d make a super limited edition for you! We only have four kilos of coffee and we roast it on a small sample roaster directly to order.
The farm / washing station:
Blanca Ligia Correa and Juan Antonio Herrera married and had fourteen children. The couple were later assigned to work and live on a Potosí farm. In 1945, Juan Antonio decided to introduce three different varieties to the existing Typica variety, and so began growing Yellow Bourbon, Red Bourbon and Caturra. In 1945, Café Granja La Esperanza was born. In the following years, there were no major changes in the way of life, apart from the establishment of a large family, which was a Colombian tradition at the time. As a consequence of this and the lack of labour, the children had to help with the farm work. After many years of hard work, the farm was very productive, regardless of the changes in the country and in the international coffee market. Two of the eleven children, Rigoberto and Luis, have shown a special interest in coffee production and processing.
In addition to Potosí, another farm in the Trujillo region, La Esperanza, was purchased to expand organic production. In 2007, Don Rigoberto was given the opportunity to lease and manage a coffee farm in the Boquete area of Panama, called ‘La Carleida’, and a year later won first place in the ‘Best Coffee of Panama’ competition organised by the Specialty Coffee Association of Panama. It was then that he decided to bring some of the Geisha seeds to Colombia, thus starting a new era in the history of Granja La Esperanza.
Café Granja La Esperanza specializes in the production and commercialization of specialty coffee varieties, facing great challenges as the adaptation of these varieties to Colombian soil and climate conditions is quite difficult. They also have to face competition in all the markets for specialty coffees around the world. Our profiles are recognised and highly regarded and we are always improving every day and always trying to make a difference. Constant research has made it possible to create unique fermentation processes of high quality for highly competitive coffees like X.O and Napoleon. They also work with Hybrid Wash, Natural and Honey. A Q-Grader certified lab team verifies and analyzes all batches, ensuring the quality, homogeneity and stability of their protocols and processes.
The company owns four farms – Potosí, Cerro Azul, Las Margaritas and La Esperanza. Our lot is from the Cerro Azul farm and is processed by natural process. The farm covers an area of 17 hectares and is located at an altitude of 1700-2000 metres.
Geisha – 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.The spellings Geisha and Gesha are often used interchangeably, relating to the fact that there is no set translation from the dialects of Ethiopia to English. The coffee was first recorded in germplasm records with the spelling “Geisha,” and coffee researchers and germplasm banks have mostly maintained that spelling over many decades, leading that spelling to be promoted and used first in the coffee industry. The coffee was originally collected in Ethiopia in a region close to a mountain whose name is most commonly rendered in English as Gesha. Consequently, many in the coffee industry have preferred to rescue that spelling.
Processing:
Coffee cherries are carefully handpicked at peak ripeness, then soaked in water to remove any lighter beans, ensuring only the finest cherries continue to the fermentation process. To perfect the flavor, we measure each cherry’s sugar level (Brix degrees) before starting the fermentation. At Cerro Azul, the cherries are fermented in open tanks for 80 hours, capturing the unique character of the farm’s natural surroundings.
After fermentation, the cherries are gently dried in mechanical driers for three days, held at a consistent 38- 40°C. They are then carefully laid out under the sun in drying beds for an additional 12 to 15 days. This slow, natural drying process locks in the cherries’ exquisite flavors, preparing them for the next stage.
Our baristas notes:
