Onyx Coffee - El Mirante Gesha | Peru

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Peru — José Prudencio Vargas El Mirante Gesha (Washed)

Tastes Like — 🌴 Date • 🌸 Orange Blossom • 🍋 Sweet Lemon • 🍮 Caramel

DETAILS

• Producer: José Prudencio Vargas (Valle Inca)
• Farm: El Mirante
• Region: Cusco, Peru
• Varietal: Gesha
• Process: Washed
• Altitude: 1,900 MASL
• Harvest: September
• Roast: Moderate

INTRO

From José Prudencio Vargas at El Mirante — the home farm of the founder of Valle Inca, and a producer whose infrastructure investment and education-focused approach have helped define the clarity and structure now associated with Cusco's finest specialty lots. A washed Gesha of high clarity, floralness, and warm sweetness. In the cup: date, orange blossom, sweet lemon, and caramel.

THE PRODUCER

El Mirante is the personal farm of José Prudencio Vargas — founder of Valle Inca, a project that has been instrumental in refining specialty coffee production across southern Peru. Through a sustained focus on processing infrastructure, producer education, and careful post-harvest protocols, Valle Inca has helped elevate the quality and traceability of Cusco's coffees to a level that is now recognised internationally. El Mirante is where that vision begins — José's own farm at 1,900 MASL in Cusco, where the cool Andean climate, slow cherry maturation, and the rich growing conditions of the Inca Valley provide the ideal foundation for Gesha to express its hallmark clarity and florality.

Gesha, first collected from the coffee forests of Ethiopia in the 1930s and brought to global prominence at the 2005 Best of Panama competition, has found a compelling and growing presence in Peru's high-altitude growing regions — and El Mirante represents one of the most well-founded and carefully managed expressions of the variety in the country.

THE PROCESS

The Washed process at El Mirante involves:

🍒 Hand-picking — Gesha cherries selectively harvested at peak ripeness 🔧 Depulping — Outer skin removed before fermentation 🧪 Fermentation — Beans fermented to break down remaining mucilage 💧 Washing — Thoroughly washed to remove all fermentation residue ☀️ Raised-bed drying — Dried on raised beds for approximately 15 days to optimal moisture content

The meticulous washed processing and raised-bed drying are the defining steps — by stripping back all fruit influence and drying slowly on raised beds, José preserves the high clarity and floral precision that Onyx specifically seek from El Mirante, allowing the Gesha's intrinsic date sweetness, orange blossom florality, sweet lemon brightness, and caramel warmth to emerge cleanly and distinctly.

THE CUP

A high-clarity, floral, and warmly expressive washed Gesha from the founding farm of one of Cusco's most important specialty coffee development projects — date sweetness, orange blossom florality, sweet lemon brightness, and a caramel warmth in a refined and well-structured cup. El Mirante at its most quietly authoritative.

Flavour Notes

🌴 Date 🌸 Orange Blossom 🍋 Sweet Lemon 🍮 Caramel