Finca Santa Cruz Geisha FW

Third-generation coffee producer José Argüello purchased Finca Santa Cruz in 2014. Located in La Concordia near the endemic forests of the Reserva de la Biósfera Triunfo Verde (Triunfo biosphere).

José learned a lot of what he knows about coffee from his father, a lifelong coffee producer and today, he and his sister, Karen, work together to produce and sell their coffees. Karen is in charge of finding a market for their coffees. They hope to open a café in Chiapas’ capital city, Tuxla.

José is also the director of CAFECO, a regional producer’s cooperative. The cooperative supports farmers in the region and helps them market their coffees and increase the prices they receive for their work.

José is exacting in his processing methods. When he’s working on creating a new product, he carefully tests his processing methods to ensure his method is the best possible way to process that coffee. He starts with a batch of cherry and, beginning with the first hour of fermentation, he dries and cups a sample for each hour of fermentation, up to 200 hours. This means that José and his team cup up to 200 samples for each new product that they create. They use the cupping results to determine the best moment to stop fermentation and begin drying.

Cherry is selectively handpicked and processed on the farm. José pulps coffee and ferments it for 24 hours. Following fermentation, parchment is washed in clean water and laid on patios to dry. Parchment is raked frequently to ensure even drying. It takes approximately 14 days for parchment 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.