Honduras — Nahun Fernandez El Ocotillo Gesha (Washed)

Tastes Like — 🌸 Soft Florals • 🍊 Sweet Orange • 🍑 White Peach • 🍵 Black Tea

DETAILS

• Producer: Nahun Fernandez
• Farm: El Ocotillo
• Region: Las Flores, Santa Barbara, Honduras
• Varietal: Gesha
• Process: Washed
• Altitude: 1,500–1,550 MASL

INTRO

From Nahun Fernandez's El Ocotillo farm in Las Flores, Santa Barbara — a purposefully planted Gesha grown at higher elevation than the family's original land, chosen specifically for the cooler temperatures and persistent fog that this variety demands. Immaculately processed and stunningly sweet, this is a perfect expression of Santa Barbaran Gesha. In the cup: soft florals, sweet orange, white peach, and a black tea finish.

THE PRODUCER

Coffee has been part of the Fernandez family for two generations — Nahun's grandfather moved to Santa Barbara in 1970 and planted the first trees on what is now Finca Don Andres, still farmed today by Nahun's father, brothers, and children. Nahun, however, chose a different path: purchasing his own land a little higher up on the same mountain, seeking the superior elevation, cooler temperatures, and ever-present fog needed to give his Gesha the optimal growing conditions it requires.

That decision has proven a defining one. El Ocotillo sits above the family's original farm, and the difference in microclimate — though the distance is modest — is precisely what Gesha demands. The variety, first brought to prominence at the 2005 Best of Panama competition, requires patience, precision, and the right environment to reveal its hallmark florality and complexity. In Nahun's hands, at Las Flores, it finds all three.

THE PROCESS

The Washed process at El Ocotillo involves:

🍒 Hand-picking — Cherries picked at peak ripeness 🔍 Sorting — Sorted for density and defects at the wet mill before fermentation 🧪 Aerobic fermentation — Fermented for 48 hours in traditional stainless steel tanks 💧 Washing — Thoroughly washed with clean water after fermentation ☀️ Raised-bed drying — Spread on raised beds and dried to optimal moisture content

The 48-hour aerobic fermentation in stainless steel is the defining step — a controlled, open-environment fermentation that develops the Gesha's inherent complexity and sweetness while maintaining the clean, transparent structure that allows every floral and fruit note to emerge with precision and clarity.

THE CUP

A stunningly sweet and immaculately processed Santa Barbaran Gesha — soft florals open the cup, giving way to sweet orange brightness and the delicate stone fruit character of white peach, before resolving in a clean, lingering black tea finish. A textbook expression of what this variety achieves in the right hands and the right conditions.

Flavour Notes

🌸 Soft Florals 🍊 Sweet Orange 🍑 White Peach 🍵 Black Tea