ABOUT ULISES CERRON

Coffee production in Nariño is generally a deeply traditional practice. Farms such as Ulises’ are more like gardens of 1 to 2 hectares (~2.5 to 5 acres) that have been handed down from generation to generation—usually becoming smaller and smaller as the years go by. Such producers create the quintessential nano lots: small gardens tended in old, traditional ways. Such coffees are beautiful, extremely labor intensive, and always a joy to have.

ABOUT CASTILLO

Castillo is a hybrid variety. It is a cross between Caturra and a Timor Robusta. In 1962 research began to create coffee leaf rust resistant varieties. Leaf rust is responsible for decimating many coffee growing regions throughout history. Castillo was released in 1982, and has been widely adopted in Colombia to combat leaf rust; breathing new life into coffee production within the country. Castillo offers producers an option that requires less fungicides while still maintaining the potential for cup quality.

ABOUT GESHA

Gesha was originally collected from coffee forests of Ethiopia in the 1930's. From there, it was sent to the Lyamungo 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 1960’s after its tolerance to coffee leaf rust was recognized. However, it was not widely planted because the plant's branches were brittle and not favored by farmers. Gesha 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 per pound. Since then, the variety has become a resounding favorite of brewing and roasting competition winners and coffee enthusiasts alike.