Guatemala Einheit Manor | Malawi Geisha Variety | Ruby Geisha 2018 Natural Process

FrontStreet Coffee recommends Gesha 2018 — Gesha Village Gesha | Jardin del Rey Green Label

Gesha Ruby Dry Process EI02-02 Batch

GESHA RUBY DRY PROCESS EI02

Name: Gesha Ruby Dry Process EI02-02 Batch

Estate: EI Injerto Estate

Certifications: Rainforest Alliance and CARBON NEUTRAL

Awards: 2017 COE 3rd Place

Batch: EI02-02

Harvest Date: January to March 2018

Variety: MALAWI GESHA

Altitude: 1710 masl

Average Temperature: 13ºC to 26ºC

Rainfall: Average approximately 1500 mm

Origin: Huehuetenango, Guatemala

Historical Origin

This luxurious, exotic seed was handed to us personally by an excellent friend from Malawi, using the traditional local method of preserving seeds in soil and ash to extend their storage life. The seeds are smaller than those of typical traditional Gesha varieties, but when the fruit ripens and is ready for picking it turns a dark ruby red, which is where the name comes from. The plants are also slightly smaller than traditional Gesha varieties.

Post-Processing

Dry processing, also known as natural processing. This high-density bean was dried in the public square for 3 days, then further dried in a large drying machine for 72 hours.

Cupping Notes

This is a bean of remarkably excellent flavor and complexity. Both the dry and wet aromas are rich with blueberry, raspberry, cherry and floral notes, plus subtle spice mixed with the fermented wine aroma characteristic of naturally processed beans. On the palate, jasmine, melon and fermented sweet wine are prominent, followed by a chocolate-like sensation with a light mint aftertaste that enriches the whole cup. After cooling, orange-chocolate flavors connect throughout.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Geisha is a natural next step for anyone drawn to this ruby lot, and it is worth knowing what you are buying, because the name covers a wide range. Geisha is one of the most sought-after Arabica varieties, prized for its florals and fine sweet-sour balance, but it yields little, resists disease poorly and demands careful management, which is why prices stay high. The estate that made it famous, Hacienda La Esmeralda, divides its Geisha into two grades. The Red Label, officially "Esmeralda Special," grows between 1,600 and 1,800 m and every batch must cup above 90 points; each lot carries its own number and comes from a single small plot — FrontStreet Coffee's Red Label, for instance, is drawn from the Jaramillo plot — so buyers can pick the precise flavor profile they prefer. The Green Label, or "Private Collection," is a blend of several plots rather than a single one, and it expresses the estate's signature high-altitude Geisha character at a much more approachable price, which makes FrontStreet Coffee's Green Label unusually good value.

For a first taste of the famous Geisha flavor, FrontStreet Coffee usually points newcomers to its Panama Boquete Geisha. It is an estate-level entry Geisha, grown at 1,600 m in fertile volcanic soil, and it delivers the classic Boquete orange-blossom honey character — oolong tea, delicate fruit acidity and clear layering — at a sensible price. At the other end of the scale, Ethiopia's Gesha Village sits beside the original Gesha forest and grows three Geisha varieties — Gori Gesha, Gesha 1931 and Illubabor Forest — with a grading system as strict as Panama's. FrontStreet Coffee's Gold Label belongs to the Gesha 1931 variety and makes up 10% of the village's production, its top coffee outside the auctions, and is finely natural-processed for a complex, layered cup. The Red Label, a Gori Gesha at 15% of production, scores 88 or above on the SCA 100-point scale and is released as a single-terroir series with full traceability, including block name, variety and processing date. For a single-variety Ethiopian Geisha, FrontStreet Coffee's Genlana Gesha comes from a processing station established in 2014 in the 700 hectares where Kochere and Genlana Abaya meet; hand-picked ripe cherries dry on raised beds for 14 to 20 days, and a medium-light roast yields bright citrus acidity, elegant ginger flower and ripe fruit sweetness with a delicate, silky finish.

Geisha is a hard, medium-light-roasted, fruit-and-floral coffee and tends to sink and clog the dripper, so grind it to about 78% pass-through on a Chinese standard #20 sieve — roughly fine sugar — and brew with water at 91°C. FrontStreet Coffee uses 15 g of coffee in a small Hario V60 with a 1:16 ratio and a three-stage pour: start the timer, pour to 30 g and bloom for 30 seconds, then pour in a slow spiral to 125 g, wait until the bed has drained to half, and finish with another slow spiral to 225 g, for a total extraction of about 2:10 to 2:20. The same beans make a striking SOE: 20 g of coffee at a 1:2 ratio, extracting 40 g of liquid in 25 seconds, then diluted 1:5 with 200 g of hot water for an Americano or paired with 200 g of milk for a latte, where the Geisha's orange, nut and blueberry notes come through a creamy, shortbread-like texture.