Panama — Hacienda La Esmeralda El Vélo Farm Gesha "Guabo 3 FC" (Cold Fermented Washed)

Tastes Like — 🥭 Mango • 🍈 Pomelo • 🌺 Magnolia • 🍐 Pear

DETAILS

• Producer: Hacienda La Esmeralda, Peterson Family
• Farm: El Vélo, Guabo plot
• Region: Boquete, Chiriquí, Panama
• Varietal: Gesha
• Process: FC — Cold Fermented Washed, Climate-Controlled Drying
• Elevation: 1,870 masl
• Harvest: January 30, 2026

INTRO
El Vélo is the newest of the Peterson family's farms at Hacienda La Esmeralda, bought in 2012 — fifty hectares in Quiel above Boquete, flat enough to plant in straight rows, the only Esmeralda farm where the topography allows it. Guabo sits on that land at 1,870 meters, below a mountain reserve climbing to 2,900 meters, where mist off the mountain holds afternoon temperatures low enough for slow ripening. Mango opens the cup, ripe and sweet throughout, with pomelo rounding out the acidity behind it. Magnolia lingers on the aftertaste, and pear runs crisp and quiet into a long, clean finish. In the cup: mango, pomelo, magnolia, and pear.

THE PRODUCER
Hacienda La Esmeralda needs little introduction. The Petersons entered their Gesha at Best of Panama in 2004, where it sold at auction for $21 a pound — the win that reshaped the trajectory of specialty coffee. This lot was bought directly from the Petersons, picked at the Guabo plot within their newer El Vélo farm.

Gesha is an Ethiopian landrace, collected from the coffee forests in the 1930s and carried to Panama by way of Tanzania and CATIE, which took it into its collection in 1953 as accession T2722. World Coffee Research's genetic work confirms the Panamanian population as its own distinct and uniform line among the Ethiopian types sharing the name — tall, slow to mature, and at its best above 1,500 meters.

THE PROCESS
FC is Esmeralda's code for cold fermented washed with climate-controlled drying. Cherries are picked at their ripest and depulped, then fermented in stainless steel tanks held at 16°C for 96 hours, where the cold slows microbial activity and spreads a gentle fermentation across a longer period. The parchment then dries for 17 days indoors, with airflow, temperature, and humidity held constant throughout.

Keeping both fermentation and drying slow and cold is the whole intention of the method — it's what builds the floral, sweet, and clear character behind the mango, pomelo, and magnolia notes that define this cup.

THE CUP
Floral and clear — ripe mango opens the cup, pomelo rounds out the acidity, magnolia lingers through the aftertaste, and pear carries a long, clean finish. Silky texture, soft and round acidity.

Flavour Notes
🥭 Mango 🍈 Pomelo 🌺 Magnolia 🍐 Pear