Origin: Colombia
Region: Tolima Process: Anaerobic Natural Varietal: Gesha Altitude: 1460 masl Notes: big, bright, juicy and clean. Mango with a slight hint of green apple. Peach and grape juice. This offering, like the Java El Eden, is a naturally processed coffee that goes through an extended process after harvesting called the anaerobic fermentation process. The anaerobic process is relatively new and involves a great deal of additional time and attention. Those overseeing the process are charged with storing the coffee in sealed containers filled with CO2 in order to increase the pressure in the tanks, while also releasing oxygen and maintaining a stable pressure throughout. The aim of this process is to use the pressure to squeeze the contents that remain on the coffee seed to get more flavor in the coffee seed. Anaerobic fermentation seems to work especially well with natural, honey, or semi-washed processed coffees, as these processes allow for varying levels of mucilage to be left on the seed during fermentation.
The anaerobic fermentation process is one that the farmers at El Vergel (the Orchard) are more than equipped to manage. This wonderful farm is located in the Department of Tolima, one of thirty-two Departments in the nation of Colombia, located in the central-west of the country, skirted by the Cordillera Central Mountains to the west and the Cordillera Oriental Mountains to the east. The farm itself is nestled in the foothills of Colombia’s most notorious volcano, Nevado Del Ruiz, otherwise known as the Black Mountain, part of the Cordillera Central Mountain Range, the central branch of the Andes Mountains in the western portion of Tolima. This family owned farm started not only to work with experimental coffees, but the highest quality green coffee available. This led them to cultivate a varietal called Gesha. Long praised for its complexity and delicacy, Panama has been the main country of origin to cultivate this varietal. But with Gesha being quite rare and difficult to grow, farms outside Panama saw an opportunity to fill a needed void and El Vergel has come through with a delicious Colombian Gesha. Gesha Marcela, as well as the many various coffees on this farm, grow in extremely fertile soil containing special minerals leftover from the eruption of Nevado Del Ruiz in 1984. Each and every green coffee bean is single-origin, hand-picked, and carefully inspected by one of their tenured pickers. If you have the opportunity, we recommend enjoying this offering while we have it, along with its sister coffee, Java El Eden. |