Gesha-ish • Peru • Natural Process • Hermanos Guerreros

Origin Notes

What we're tasting: Delicate, Mandarin, Cherry, Peach

Origin: Peru, El Palto, Bellavista

Producers: Hermanos Guerreros

Process: Natural

Varietal:Gesha, Catuai

Altitude: 1800

About the beans

Gesha is a rare Arabica varietal, known for its light, tea-like character. Here it’s blended with Catuai at origin to bring a bit more sweetness, body, and a friendlier price tag.

Grown just outside Jaén, in El Palto, Bellavista, this lot comes from the Guerrero family. Three generations deep in coffee, proper rooted in it. Since 2006 the current crew have been running things, each working their own 2 hectares, but sharing washing and drying setups so it all comes together as one.

Up until 2020 they were just selling to local buyers at market price. Solid, but nothing special. Then they clocked what specialty coffee could actually do and started levelling up. New varieties went in, Marshell and Geisha, planted out with more space to breathe. Irrigation got added too, because the dry seasons around Jaén have been getting a bit too real.

They are part of Falcon’s Specialty Plus programme now, working alongside an agronomist and properly experimenting. Processing is tighter, more intentional. One of their honey lots this year hit 88 points. Cherries rested for 36 hours, then depulped, then 84 hours fermenting in barrels. All controlled. Around 27°C, pH sitting at 4.1, humidity at 69%. Then dried for 12 days on African beds.

Even their washed coffees have stepped up. With tools like refractometers, thermometers and proper fermentation tanks, they have pushed scores up by about 2.5 points. Not small. It is opened the door to better markets and better prices.

This is what happens when producers get access and back themselves.