Colombia Hope Estate Margaret Estate Geisha! How is Hope Estate Natural Process Coffee Beans?

The Rise of a Coffee Champion

Over the past decade, one Colombian coffee estate has gathered more than 60 awards at major coffee competitions around the world. These include not only world-class events where the best of the best compete, but also green coffee competitions such as Colombia's Cup of Excellence and Panama's Best of Panama. Little wonder the specialty coffee world now calls this estate the "rising star" of coffee. And this estate is today's subject: La Esperanza!

About La Esperanza Estate

Before diving into La Esperanza, there is one thing worth clarifying: although La Esperanza is indeed the name of an estate, when you see it in competitions or on rankings, it doesn't refer to a single farm. In those contexts, it stands for a group of farms that compete and sell together under the La Esperanza name. The story begins with a Colombian couple, Blanca Ligia Correa and Juan Antonio Herrera, who were assigned in their early years to work at a farm called Potosi, where a new chapter of their lives began.

After working there for several years, the couple fell in love with the coffee business and bought the Potosi farm outright to run it themselves—that was their first estate. Since Potosi was planted mainly with Typica, and Juan Antonio Herrera wanted to explore more possibilities, the couple purchased a new plot of land near the farm in 1945, specifically planting specially introduced Yellow Bourbon, Red Bourbon, Caturra, and Typica. They named this estate La Esperanza—"Hope"—a fitting symbol of its potential.

Between marrying and running the estate, the couple raised 14 children. Two of them, Rigoberto and Luis, developed a deep passion for coffee cultivation and kept expanding their knowledge and expertise. Under their leadership, the family went on to acquire three more estates: Margarita, Cerro Azul, and Hawaii. Together the five estates cover 150 hectares at varying altitudes, generally between 1,400 and 1,800 meters. All of them sit in Colombia's Cauca department except Hawaii, which is in Cundinamarca.

Cauca lies in southwestern Colombia, with an average altitude of 1,758 meters and peaks reaching 2,100 meters. The high elevation brings significant day-night temperature swings, which slows the coffee plants' growth rhythm and gives the beans more time to absorb nutrients, developing outstanding sweetness and flavor complexity. Add abundant rainfall, mild temperatures, and fertile volcanic soil, and you have another "paradise" for coffee cultivation. Across 150 hectares, you can imagine how productive La Esperanza is—and it is. Yet at this stage they had not made much of a splash, remaining just one coffee-growing family among many in Colombia.

That changed in 2007, when a bold move by Rigoberto took La Esperanza to a new level. That year he leased a coffee farm in Panama called La Carleida, and under his management it won the Panama Best of Panama competition the following year. The award taught him how decisive variety genetics can be. He soon brought Geisha back to Colombia and began experimenting with more varieties, officially opening the door to La Esperanza's rise to fame.

FrontStreet Coffee's Selection

As we saw at the start, in the years that followed, La Esperanza kept collecting awards and championships, becoming the rising star of the coffee world. FrontStreet Coffee moved quickly to source a batch of La Esperanza beans to taste this exceptional quality for ourselves.

This particular batch is natural processed Geisha from La Esperanza's Margarita estate. Because of the high growing altitude, FrontStreet Coffee deliberately stretched out the roasting rhythm to ensure the beans fully develop their flavors while avoiding underdevelopment.

FrontStreet Coffee: Colombia · La Esperanza Geisha
Country: Colombia
Region: Cauca Department
Altitude: 1850 meters
Variety: Geisha
Processing: Natural Process
Flavor: Blackcurrant juice, blueberry, orange, dark plum, red wine

Cupping Notes

Eight hours after roasting, FrontStreet Coffee ran a cupping session right away. The dry aroma offered sweet, tangy notes of grapes and berries. On tasting, we picked up lush blackcurrant juice first, followed by generous aromas of orange, dark plum, and blueberry. As the cup cooled, the juiciness grew more pronounced, and after swallowing, a distinct red wine aftertaste lingered—remarkably soothing.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If this natural Geisha from Colombia captivates you, it's worth exploring the two homelands of the variety. Panama is where Geisha made its name: FrontStreet Coffee's Esmeralda Red Label and Green Label Geisha come from 1,600-1,800 meters and deliver the classic orange-blossom sweetness, layered florals, juicy fruit acidity, and a tea-like finish that stunned BOP judges in 2003.

For an approachable first taste of "Geisha flavor" at a friendlier price, FrontStreet Coffee recommends the Boquete Geisha—gentle oolong-tea notes with delicate fruit acidity and clear separation of layers. And if you prefer brighter fruit, the Ethiopia Genji Granjana Geisha (medium-light roast) offers white florals plus orange, guava, and citrus acidity, with the signature refined Geisha finish. Brew Geisha with a coarser grind (about 78% pass through a #20 sieve), 91°C water, and a three-stage pour on a V60 at 1:16 for the best expression.