Colombia Wilder Lazo Geisha Anaerobic Chilled Ferment Natural Lot 002 - LIMITED RELEASE

WILDER LAZO
Wilder Lazo, originally a veterinarian specialising in livestock farming, made a dramatic career shift in 2016. Faced with a downturn in coffee prices and his father’s serious illness, he and his brother decided to modernise their family farm, Finca Bella Alejandría, in Huila, Colombia.

Embracing precision agriculture, Wilder applied his analytical skills to the world of coffee cultivation. He meticulously examined soil samples and implemented targeted nutrients and fertilisers to correct the soil’s pH levels. This approach enhanced the availability of nutrients for the coffee trees, leading to a significant boost in the quality of their coffee.

Today, their coffees are highly rated on the cupping scale, reflecting Wilder’s commitment and innovative techniques. His work has not only revitalised the family farm but also ensured its sustainable growth.

The anaerobic fermentation emphasizes the “true coffee character”, as most microorganisms work much slower compared to aerobic "fermentation" (actually more correctly referred to as oxidation, as fermentation, by definition, is an anaerobic process). In coffee processing, however, everything that happens "between picking and drying" is mistakenly referred to as fermentation.
Wilder Lazo ensures that the soil is very well supplied with nutrients. Then, the fully ripe, extremely large fruits are harvested and washed in water tanks to separate them from impurities and floating beans.
Wilder loves to play with processing techniques and discovered that if he chills the fermentation tanks with cold spring water, he can extend the fermentation and create an enhanced body in the coffee without booziness.
This lot has been fermented for 84 hours in sealed tanks at a steady temperature and then dried for 18 days in marquesina (marquee).

GESHA
Gesha (also spelled Geisha) is a once-rare variety that was ‘rediscovered’ in Panama in 2004, though it is increasingly becoming more common due to increased production in response to the high prices that the varietal fetches.

The variety originally hails from the birthplace of coffee, Ethiopia. The story goes that in 1931, the British Ambassador to Ethiopia selected a bunch of coffee cherries (most likely from different coffee trees) in the southwest part of Ethiopia, near a town called Geisha, to use them in his research. In 1932, the seeds were exported to Kenya’s Kitale centre under the name of Abyssinia or Geisha. In 1936, the sprouts from these seeds were sent to Kwanda station in Uganda and Lyamungu station in Tanzania for experimental lots. It wasn’t until the mid-1950s, however, that these ‘Geisha’ seeds made their way across the water from Tanzania to Costa Rica’s CATIE centre, where they were first planted in Central America.

Initial efforts to establish Geisha in Central America weren’t particularly successful, however. Although Don Pachi Serracin brought the first Geisha seeds from Costa Rica to Panama in 1963, by all accounts first attempts to cultivate the trees were disappointing due to the resulting ‘poor cup quality’. Later it became apparent that this was a result of planting the variety at low altitudes; nonetheless, the variety languished for decades, sometimes popping up here and there across Costa Rica and Panama, usually used in blends but never really taking off.

It wasn’t until 2004 that Geisha gained the recognition it deserved on the speciality coffee ‘scene’. In a gutsy move, one farm entered a sample of their Geisha in that year’s Taste of Panama competition. The lot created a sensation, not only winning the competition by a mile but earning staggering reviews by the judges.

Since this time, Geisha has come to be considered one of the most complex, intensely flavoured and desirable profiles of all the coffee varietals. Today it is grown widely in Panama and Costa Rica, though the plant is relatively demanding.

THE ROAST
The beauty of the Geisha varietal, and the work put in by Wilder, makes the goal of roasting clear; to highlight the floral notes, the clarity, the pure expression of the coffee - this requires a very light roast.
With First crack occurring at 200.3 degrees Celsius, we've only taken the coffee 6 degrees further, with a development time of 1:15, or 11.8%.