Have you ever seen a washed geisha on our menu?

Every coffee roaster has the kind of coffee they like to roast, the kind of coffee they hate to roast and the kind of coffee that they fear to roast. Washed geisha coffees are, in our opinion, the most difficult coffee to roast on the planet (on Mars)! It’s a coffee that we absolutely adore drinking but fear the challenge of roasting it perfectly. This is because unlike many other coffees with heavier or more complicated processing methods, washed geishas have a particular flavour and complexity that is easily over cooked. If you roast it too light, however, your coffee will taste watery—and this is not the same as a coffee having a delicate flavour! The flavour, however, of a washed geisha coffee is truly something unique and special. In many ways, choosing to roast this coffee is all about nostalgia.

This coffee comes from Huila, Colombia at an altitude of 1700 metres above sea level. Pedro Silva operates a 3 hectare farm. Most of the varieties grown here are Pink Bourbon and Geisha, where geisha constitutes just over 1 hectare of the total farm. Lemon and orange trees are peppered throughout the farm to aid with soil health and biodiversity. The coffee cherries are picked at their ripest point, they are washed and dried. They are sent to us to be roasted for you. It’s as simple as it comes and yet the coffee has a particular kind of tea quality, alike earl grey tea, that we look for as a signature of this varietal and process. It also tastes of jasmine green tea and mandarins.

Galvanised by the recent statement from the Specialty Coffee Association of Panama during their recent COE, debate around processing methods and the place for infused or co-fermented coffees on the market is back in hot debate. We certainly enjoy and are curious about the flavours that can be found in co-fermented coffees, or yeast or koji coffees, but we support the stance that Panama SCA has taken for the same reasons that we love this geisha.

Please enjoy!