Colombia — Yessica & Diego Parra El Mirador Gesha, New Season (Washed)

Tastes Like — 🌼 Chamomile • 🍋 Lemon Curd • 🍯 Wildflower Honey • 🍈 Finger Lime

DETAILS

• Producers: Yessica & Diego Parra
• Farm: El Mirador
• Region: Pitalito, Huila, Colombia
• Varietal: Gesha
• Process: Washed, 48h In-Cherry Fermentation
• Elevation: 1,750 masl
• Relationship: 2nd consecutive year, including their first-ever export

INTRO
Chamomile sits on the dry grounds, a soft floral that sets up the cup. Lemon curd opens it, bright and thick at once, custard sweetness sitting behind the citrus. Wildflower honey holds the middle and gives the cup its weight, carrying through to the end, while finger lime arrives late, releasing small beads of sharp citrus across the palate. The florals open it, the citrus closes it, and the honey holds the two together. This year's harvest is small — all of it was taken. In the cup: chamomile, lemon curd, wildflower honey, and finger lime.

THE PRODUCER
El Mirador sits at 1,750 meters outside Pitalito, in the south of Huila, Colombia's largest coffee-producing department. Yessica and Diego Parra are siblings and the fourth generation of their family to farm there — their great-grandfather planted the first trees, their parents kept them going. Yessica came to specialty coffee through SENA, Colombia's vocational training system, and brought her brother in behind her. Together they founded Diwan Coffee, launching the brand in November 2024. Diego runs fermentation and variety work; Yessica runs cupping, logistics, and sourcing. Their washed Gesha was bought last year, on their first export, and it was one of the favourite coffees of that year.

Gesha was collected in the Gori Gesha forest of southwestern Ethiopia in 1936 and moved through Kenya, Tanzania, and CATIE in Costa Rica before reaching Panama in the 1960s, where Hacienda La Esmeralda made its name at auction in 2004. Colombia planted it later and had to learn it — the trees are tall, brittle, and low-yielding, giving up their florals only when the cherry hangs. At 1,750 meters in Pitalito, cool nights and long, even ripening give the Parras that slow maturation.

THE PROCESS
Diwan's washed process starts before the pulper. Only fully ripe cherries are picked, floating removes anything not dense enough, and the fruit is held whole for 48 hours, so fermentation begins inside intact cherry and mucilage sugars move into the seed before anything is stripped away. The cherries are then depulped and washed, and the parchment goes back under water for a short secondary fermentation that clears remaining mucilage. Drying is slow and finished on the farm.

The 48 hours in cherry is where the honey sweetness comes from — the washing and short second ferment are what keep it clean, building the lemon curd and wildflower honey character that define this cup.

THE CUP
Silky with a long finish — chamomile opens, lemon curd brings bright, thick citrus sweetness, wildflower honey holds the middle, and finger lime arrives late with sharp, beaded citrus.

Flavour Notes
🌼 Chamomile 🍋 Lemon Curd 🍯 Wildflower Honey 🍈 Finger Lime