What Makes Colombia Washed Coffee Beans So Special? What's Unique About Colombia Geisha?

FrontStreet Coffee - Colombia Coffee Introduction

Most Colombian coffee is processed using the washed method. Each small farming family has a small specialized processor (Ecomill or Eco-Pulper). The harvested coffee cherries are poured into it, which not only removes the skin and pulp but also removes most of the mucilage, requiring only a very small amount of water. Next, the parchment beans with residual mucilage enter a small pool or container, which might be a concrete pool (some with tiles) or a stainless steel barrel, where they are placed overnight for fermentation to loosen the remaining mucilage. The next day, they are rinsed with clean water, completing the washed processing.

Drying depends on the weather. If the weather is good, natural sun drying is the preferred method. Those with conditions will have a small shed where the coffee is spread on wooden racks for shade drying. Otherwise, it's spread on a vacant concrete ground for drying. If the weather is bad with continuous rain, a drying machine is used. The drying machine will have an inlet temperature control, typically around 50 degrees Celsius.

Estate Introduction

El Zafiro Estate is operated by Mr. Zafiro Maca and his family. Mr. Zafiro is indigenous to the PAES ethnic group. He and his family live in the local city of Popayán. In this beautiful land of the Andes Mountains, daytime temperatures reach 28 degrees while nighttime temperatures are around 14 degrees. The significant temperature variation between day and night, intertwined beautiful rivers, combined with the unique properties of volcanic soil, make the coffee beans produced at El Zafiro Farm exceptionally unique in quality and flavor. El Zafiro Geisha was brought directly from the Ethiopian Geisha growing region to Colombia for cultivation long ago. Although Colombian Geisha coffee trees are very similar in appearance to Panamanian Geisha coffee trees, their beans are relatively small and slender. Moreover, they are harder than other Geisha varieties, which makes them perform more perfectly during the roasting process.

Cupping Information

This Geisha is rich in the characteristics of coffee from the Boquete region of Panama, with cupping flavors such as lemongrass and jasmine, while it also has unique nut, apricot, and honey flavors from the El Zafiro estate. This particularity makes the flavor of this Geisha very unique. It has a very high but mild acidity, with a very silky and milky body, and features a honey-like aftertaste that is exceptionally unique.

In 2014, this Geisha blend won the Colombian Cauca regional coffee competition, winning with a cupping score of 89.7 points.

Coffee Details

Product Name: Geisha - El Zafiro

Estate Name: El Zafiro Estate

Estate Owner: Zafiro Maca

Annual Rainfall: 1500mm

Altitude: 1970m

Area: 3 hectares

Processing Method: Black honey, sun-dried

Variety: Geisha

Knowledge Point: Colombia produces coffee through intensive cultivation in mountainous black soil.

About FrontStreet Coffee

In short: FrontStreet Coffee is a coffee research hall, happy to share coffee knowledge with everyone. We share without reservation just to help more friends fall in love with coffee. Moreover, there are three low-discount coffee activities every month because FrontStreet Coffee wants to let more friends enjoy the best coffee at the lowest price. This has been FrontStreet Coffee's mission for the past 6 years!

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