Bill Klinton - Peru - Hybrid Washed - Geisha
Peruvian Geisha! How good high altitude, forest-grown mountain coffee can be. This Geisha is grown by Bill Klinton at his farm El Romerillo, named after the romerillo trees that shade the coffee plantation. It is processed with our favourite 'hybrid washed' method, which involves an anaerobic fermentation, pulping, a secondary fermentation in mucilage before washing and drying. The result is a vibrant, expressive coffee with layered fruit and a floral tea-like quality. Expect notes of peach, raspberry, and white tea. Top shelf!
Info
Farm
El Romerillo is a small 3 hectare farm owned and run by Bill Klinton.
Region
San José del Alto is a small district in Jaén, Cajamarca, in the mountains of Northern Peru.
Curiousities
Bill also grows corn, beans, and cassava to diversify income throughout the year.
Elevation
El Romerillo sits at over 1,750 masl and is planted with Geisha and Caturra.
Variety
The genetic variance of 'Geisha' is muddy as the variety spread throughout the coffee producing world. Traceable Panamanian Geisha, or ‘Peterson Geisha’, is a stable variant and the direct descendent of T2722.
Process
Fermentation of 48 hours in plastic bags, then depulped and fermented for an additional two days in bags under shade. Drying takes place in a specialized module and takes about 15 days.
Peru
Peru, in our opinion, is one of the most exciting coffee producing countries at the moment. It is now the worlds largest exporter of Organic Certified Arabica.
Coffee production in Peru is overwhelmingly small-scale. The majority of the coffee in Peru is grown by smallholder farmers in rural, mountainous regions. Because of this, cooperative washing stations and mills are vital to the processing and export of the majority of Peruvian coffee as most of these farmers can not produce enough coffee to export as a single lot. There are also benefits to the cooperative model, such as community involvement, a centralised body for market-feedback and quality control, as well as other benefits like agricultural support and financing.
The Rise of Geisha
“Panamanian Geisha, also known as Peterson Geisha, has a distinct genetic fingerprint as the direct ascension of T2722”
Geisha, or 'Gesha' was first discovered in the Gori Gesha forest, Ethiopia, and was sent to the Tengeru (now Lyamungu) Coffee Research Station in Tanzania. In 1953, plants successfully cultivated at Lyamungu as VC-496 were taken to Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE) in Costa Rica and recorded as accession T2722. The Peterson family of Boquete, Panama, bought some of this seed stock from CATIE and in 2005 entered their coffee into the Best Of Panama, where it won the competition and sold for a then-record price of US$770/kg. This year, the Lamastus family's Elida Estate Geisha sold for $10,013/kg.
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