Isaac Espinoza - SL9 | Peru

Peru — Isaac Espinoza Inkawasi SL9 (Washed)

Tastes Like — 🫐 Berries • 🍇 Grapes • 🍊 Orange

DETAILS

• Producer: Isaac Espinoza
• Region: Inkawasi, Cusco, Peru
• Varietal: SL9
• Process: Washed (Two-Stage Fermentation)
• Altitude: 2,150 MASL
• Harvest: October 2025
• Size: 250g

INTRO

From Isaac Espinoza in Inkawasi — one of the first coffee farmers to establish a coffee plantation and beneficio in the district, whose work has inspired an entire community of producers to follow and helped place Inkawasi on the specialty coffee map. A uniquely berry-forward and silky washed SL9 of real complexity and charm. In the cup: berries, grapes, and orange, with coffee blossom, golden grape, and melon running through.

THE PRODUCER

Don Isaac Espinoza was a pioneer of coffee farming in Inkawasi, Cusco — one of the first in the district to establish both a coffee plantation and a processing facility, or beneficio, at a time when the region was barely known to specialty buyers. His initiative has since inspired many neighbouring farmers to build their own enterprises, and Inkawasi is now making a name for itself in specialty coffee for the quality of its SL9 lots. The coffee farm has become a reference point for the community — a demonstration of what dedicated cultivation at extreme altitude can achieve.

SL9 — colloquially known as "Inca Gesha" — is a variety new to much of the specialty market. Genetic testing from the Inkawasi and Amaybamba valleys suggests it is closely related to a prized Scott Agricultural Laboratories selection from the 1930s, belonging to the Ethiopian Legacy group rather than the Gesha family. Gesha-like in stature and cup profile, it shares the berry fruit and floral characteristics associated with Ethiopian Landrace genetics — and at 2,150 MASL in Inkawasi, its expressive aromatic potential is given full room to develop.

THE PROCESS

The Washed Two-Stage Fermentation process involves:

🍒 Selective hand-picking — Only ripe cherries selectively harvested at peak ripeness 💧 Washing & flotation — Cherries washed to remove impurities, then floated to remove lower-density fruit 🧪 18-hour in-cherry fermentation — Whole cherries fermented for 18 hours before depulping 🔧 Depulping — Outer skin removed after the first fermentation 🧪 36-hour dry fermentation — Depulped beans fermented dry for a further 36 hours, without added water, until mucilage fully separates from parchment 💧 Washing — Thoroughly washed after fermentation to remove all residue 🌑 Shaded raised-bed drying — Dried on shaded drying beds for 18 days until moisture content reaches just under 11% 🔒 GrainPro sealing — Sealed in GrainPro and polypropylene bags after drying to preserve freshness

The two-stage fermentation — 18 hours in-cherry followed by 36 hours dry after depulping — is the defining step, building the silky berry depth and layered complexity that make this SL9 so memorable, while the shaded drying and GrainPro sealing preserve every nuance of the profile through to the final cup.

THE CUP

A complex, silky, and uniquely berry-forward washed SL9 from one of Inkawasi's most pioneering and community-building producers — berries and golden grape sweetness, a bright orange citrus note, melon freshness, and a coffee blossom florality in a cup that rewards every brew style and every temperature. Don Isaac Espinoza's Inca Gesha at its most expressive.

Flavour Notes

🫐 Berries 🍇 Grapes 🍊 Orange