This Gesha separation comes from a very impressive producer. Stefan grows an incredible array of varieties and believes "art exists to express feelings, connect, and identify dreams". In the cup we find a classic Gesha profile of jasmine, honeysuckle, and white peach.
Gesha
Boquete
1,600 masl
February, 2023
Hand-picked at peak ripeness. Fermented for 15 hours. Washed. Dried on raised beds for 10-14 days.
Stefan Muller has been running Hacienda Bajo Mono for six years, having bought the farm through his father-in-law, Don Benjamin de Dianous. The property had formerly been abandoned, so Stefan and his wife have built the property from almost nothing. This Gesha grows under the shade of a canopy of avocado, chirimoya, and orange trees.
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.
The cost of getting a coffee from cherry to beverage varies enormously depending on its place of origin and the location of its consumption. The inclusion of price transparency is a starting point to inform broader conversation around the true costs of production and the sustainability of specialty coffee as a whole.