Costa Rica — Alejo Castro Kahle, Volcán Azul Geisha (Washed)

Tastes Like — 🌸 Jasmine • 🍑 White Peach • 🍊 Bergamot • 🍯 Honey

DETAILS

• Producer: Alejo Castro Kahle
• Farm: Volcán Azul
• Region: Poás Volcano, Central Valley, Costa Rica
• Varietal: Geisha
• Process: Washed
• Altitude: 1,400–1,900 MASL
• Size: 150g

INTRO

A washed Geisha from Volcán Azul, on the fertile volcanic slopes of Costa Rica's Poás Volcano. POMA collaborates closely with Alejo Castro Kahle and his team on cultivation research, and this lot showcases their meticulous washed processing — a method built around clarity, structure and pristine purity.

The Geisha variety, known for its perfumed florality and elegant tea-like body, finds an exceptional home in Volcán Azul's volcanic soils and high-altitude microclimate. The result is a refined, vibrant cup that highlights both the variety's hallmark complexity and the farm's precise execution.

THE PRODUCER

Volcán Azul, managed by Alejo Castro Kahle, is situated on the fertile volcanic slopes of the Poás Volcano in Costa Rica's Central Valley at altitudes ranging from 1,400 to 1,900 MASL. Complemented by a state-of-the-art mill, Alejo and his team are dedicated to maintaining and improving coffee quality, honouring their family's long legacy of outstanding coffee for several generations.

Alejo's willingness to innovate and develop has been essential to POMA's collaborative efforts, with extensive experimentation underway across the farm — exploring everything from pruning and induced shade to thinning systems. Volcán Azul produces some of Central America's most refined and reliable coffees, with the volcanic terroir lending pronounced clarity and distinctive minerality to every lot.

The farm's Geisha plantings are particularly prized — high-elevation, low-yielding and meticulously cared for, they represent the pinnacle of what Costa Rican specialty coffee can achieve.

THE PROCESS

The Washed process at Volcán Azul involves:

• 🍒 Hand Harvest — Ripe Geisha cherries are selectively hand-picked at peak maturity, reflecting the farm's commitment to quality at every stage.
• 🔧 Careful Depulping — Cherries are meticulously depulped to remove the outer skin, preparing the beans for fermentation.
• 🧪 Controlled Fermentation — The beans ferment to loosen the sticky mucilage layer, with careful monitoring of time and temperature.
• 💧 Mechanical Washing — Mucilage is then fully removed through mechanical washing, ensuring no residual sugars remain that could introduce fruitier or fermented notes.
• ☀️ Patio & Mechanical Drying — Parchment-covered beans dry slowly, often starting on patios and finished in mechanical dryers for precise control.
• 🌡️ Volcanic Terroir — The fertile volcanic soils and high-elevation microclimate impart pronounced clarity, lively acidity and nuanced flavour development.

This classic, meticulously executed approach allows the Geisha variety to express its hallmark florality and elegant structure whilst showcasing the pristine purity that Volcán Azul is renowned for.

THE CUP

This Geisha presents a bright, elegant cup with pronounced floral aromatics and a silky, tea-like body. The washed process strips back any fermentation veil, leaving the variety's natural character on full display — perfumed jasmine, juicy stone fruit and refined citrus, layered over a clean, honeyed sweetness.

Expect vibrant acidity, exceptional clarity and a long, refined finish. A textbook expression of Volcán Azul's pristine washed protocol applied to one of the world's most celebrated varietals.

Flavour Notes

• 🌸 Jasmine
• 🍑 White Peach
• 🍊 Bergamot
• 🍯 Honey