Alejandro Morales Geisha Natural

Alejandro visited his first farm at 6 years old when he bombarded his father with countless questions about the farm. He hasn’t stopped asking questions about how to best cultivate and process coffees and his deep love for coffee cultivation continues to drive his work each day. He is also a certified Q-grader, which helps him analyze and improve his coffees.

When Alejandro first participated in the Guatemala Cup of Excellence in 2001, his coffees didn’t score highly. He persevered and, after 9 years of experimentation and improvement, he ranked #2 in 2010. This milestone also opened a new window for Alejandro and he began selling directly to buyers worldwide. Since that first win in 2010, Alejandro devotes his time to improving quality in cultivation and processing.

This Geisha crop is part of that constant striving for higher quality. 2021 is the first crop of Geisha from Finca La Gran Manzana. The farm’s location in Huehuetenango offers high altitudes and the ideal microclimate for this exquisite variety. In the cup, this coffee is delightfully fruity with all the nuance we expect from a Geisha.

With the help of his brother, Fredy, Alejandro tested different processing methods on his Geisha cherry to find the best method for preserving the complexity and nuance in Geisha.

Cherry is selectively handpicked and placed in bags where it lightly ferments for 24 hours. Then, cherry is washed in clean water and floated to remove any under- or over-ripes. Cherry is laid on raised beds to sundry for 5 to 6 days before being move to parabolic dryers for 25 to 28 days more. Cherry is raked frequently to ensure even drying. It takes approximately 35 days for cherry to dry.

Geisha (also known as Gesha) is known for its exceptional cup quality, especially when grown at high altitudes. The variety comes from Ethiopian landrace coffees and was collected from Ethiopian coffee forests in the 1930s. The name supposedly derives from Ethiopia’s Gori Gesha forest.

There is some confusion with several genetically distinct varieties that have all been called Geisha, but the most famous variety is the Panama one. The variety was brought to Lyamungu research station in Tanzania and from there to Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE) in Central America in 1953. At CATIE, the variety was logged as T2722. CATIE distributed T2722 across Panama in the 1960s for its Coffee Leaf Rust (CLR) resistance, but its brittle branches meant it was not widely planted.

Panama Geisha reached its modern fame in 2005 when a Geisha lot won the “Best of Panama” competition and broke contemporary records at over $20/pound. DNA analysis has demonstrated that the Panama Geisha descended from T2722 is distinct and uniform. Today, Geisha is known for its delicate florals, jasmine and stone fruit.