Ecuador

Hacienda La Papaya Geisha

Natural Geisha

Only the second harvest of Geisha from Juan Peña’s Hacienda La Papaya, showcasing delicately perfumed florals

Expert processing leads to incredible depth and complexity, while maintaining the complex and perfumed floral characteristics we expect from Geisha.

Producer
Juan Peña
Coffee expression
A floral & rich coffee

Regular price: $26.00
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Sale price: $26.00
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Geisha at Hacienda La Papaya

The Geisha plants sit at the very top reaches of Hacienda La Papaya, developing slowly, building deeply complex aromatics and a rich sweetness.

Collaboration with Juan Peña

We’re excited to continue our collaboration with Juan Peña, owner of Hacienda La Papaya and Cafexporto. Since meeting in Aarhus in 2015, we have purchased many small experimental lots, continuing a conversation through high quality coffee. Over the past two years, Juan has expanded his work, exporting more Hacienda La Papaya coffee to Europe together with us, and starting the CafExporto project, working with farms across Ecuador.

Juan Peña

Hacienda La Papaya

Hacienda La Papaya is located just outside the town of Saraguro, in the Loja region of Southern Ecuador. The Hacienda has been in Juan’s family since the end of colonial rule, and is a place that holds great importance for the whole family, having spent their summers there since they were children. Juan began to experiment with coffee here in 2010, and moved to work in coffee full time in 2014 after his rose crop was wiped out by a violent storm in Cuenca. Over the intervening years he has thrown himself into the pursuit of high quality coffee, with a meticulous and scientific approach.

This approach, shaped by Juan’s experience in roses and his training as an agricultural engineer, has led to an astronomic rise to high quality and international recognition, over just 7 years. His obsessive experimentation and need for scientific evidence is a cornerstone of his work at each stage, from carefully applied and monitored fertilisation, constant measurement of brix and cherry weight during harvest, innovation in careful fermentation, to the exacting drying process. Juan’s work in each of these fields is truly some of the most meticulous and effective we have seen in our years of travelling for coffee, and we left the Hacienda in awe.

Natural Geisha

We’ve been able to taste the ever improving results of Juan’s work over the years; top-quality micro-lots with wildly varying flavour profiles and expressions. This Geisha lot is processed in Juan’s bespoke drying rooms, developed during an extensive research project with the local university. Equipped with humidity and temperature sensors, these rooms allow incredible control over airflow and drying conditions to dry coffees consistently and carefully, always with utmost quality in mind. Geisha cherries are placed on the raised beds inside the drying rooms, and dry slowly over 30 days.

This develops an incredibly rich and complex flavour profile, with notes of red grape, lemon balm and honey backing up the incredibly delicate and perfumed florals. We’re more than proud of our relationship with a true trailblazer like Juan, and are grateful for the opportunity to share this tiny lot from only the second harvest from his Geisha trees.

Technical Data

Producer
Juan Peña
Region
Loja
Altitude
2100 masl
Varietal
Geisha
Process
Natural
Harvest
September 2022

Natural Process

The natural, or dry process, is the traditional process, going back generations. When accomplished in a controlled and careful manner, dry processed coffees can produce flavour experiences not found in wet processed coffees, deep fruits and florals, normally with heavier mouthfeel and lower acidity. The cherries are first sorted, and then laid out on in thin layers (2-6 cm) on raised drying beds. These are almost always used for high quality naturals, as they aid airflow around the coffee as it dries, enabling more even drying.

It is very important that coffees are sorted very carefully early on in the drying process, as all of the cherries quickly turn dark brown, making it impossible to separate under and overripe cherries. The cherries are turned frequently to avoid mold formation or over-fermentation, until they reach a moisture content of below 20%, and the outer cherry layer shrinks and blackens. This process takes between 2 and 4 weeks, depending on weather conditions.