Colombia — Blanca Ligia Riascos "Cumbre" Gesha (Washed)

Tastes Like — 🌸 Florality • 🍊 Citrus • 🍑 Peach

DETAILS

• Producer: Blanca Ligia Riascos
• Region: Buesaco, Nariño, Colombia
• Varietal: Gesha
• Process: Washed
• Elevation: 2,100 masl
• Harvest: March 2026
  

INTRO
An exceptional Gesha from Blanca Ligia Riascos, grown in one of the more remote and mysterious coffee-growing regions of Colombia: Nariño. Lovely florality leads, with citrus brightness and a peach sweetness throughout. In the cup: florality, citrus, and peach.

THE PRODUCER
This year marks the beginning of a new project developing in Nariño. Although the region was one of the first visited when sourcing first began, it remains one of Colombia's more remote and difficult regions to work in — but one long believed to hold some of the highest quality potential in the country.

Gesha was originally collected from coffee forests in Ethiopia in the 1930s, sent to the Lyamungo Research Station in Tanzania, then to CATIE in Central America in 1953, where it was logged as accession T2722. It was distributed through Panama via CATIE in the 1960s for its coffee leaf rust tolerance, though not widely planted due to its brittle branches. It rose to prominence in 2005, when the Peterson family of Boquete entered it into the Best of Panama competition, breaking the then-record for green coffee auction prices at over $20 per pound.

THE PROCESS
Cherries are hand-picked at peak ripeness, floated to further remove defects, then de-pulped the same day. The coffee dry-ferments for 48 hours, is washed, and dries on raised beds until moisture reaches 10.5%.

The 48-hour dry fermentation is the defining step — it's what builds the floral clarity and peach sweetness that define this cup, letting Gesha's naturally delicate character shine through Nariño's remote, high-altitude terroir.

THE CUP
Floral and bright — lovely florality leads the cup, with citrus acidity through the middle and a peach sweetness on the finish. A promising early look at a challenging, high-potential new region.

Flavour Notes
🌸 Florality 🍊 Citrus 🍑 Peach