
Edilberto Bermeo · Peru 🇵🇪
The variety that changed coffee
In 2004 a coffee from Panama won a competition by such a margin that the coffee world went looking for its name. It was Gesha. Twenty years later, it is still the variety every specialty roaster dreams of.
IFrom the Gesha forest
Gesha is named after the Gori Gesha forest in south-western Ethiopia, where seeds were collected in the 1930s. From there it travelled to research stations in Kenya, Tanzania and Costa Rica and finally to Panama, where for decades nobody paid it much attention. Then, in 2004, the Gesha of Hacienda La Esmeralda was tasted in competition, and it has been setting record prices ever since.
IIWhy it is so rare
Gesha trees are tall and slender, with long, elegant leaves, and they give few cherries. They need altitude and care to show their perfume, so only a small part of any farm is ever planted with them. Edilberto Bermeo grows his at 1,750 metres in Peru, high enough for the cherries to ripen slowly.
IIIWashed, to keep it pure
This lot is washed: the fruit is removed, the beans ferment briefly and are rinsed and dried, so nothing covers the variety's own aroma. Lime leaf and lemon cream at the start, thyme in the middle, brown butter at the end. We roast it in small batches in Neusiedl am See, gently, because with a Gesha the roaster's job is mostly to stay out of the way.