Peru — Georgina Puma Monte Verde Gesha (Washed)

Tastes Like — 🌸 Apple Blossom • 🍊 Mandarin • 🫐 Blueberry

DETAILS

• Producer: Georgina Puma
• Farm: Monte Verde
• Region: Santa Ana, Cusco, Peru
• Varietal: Gesha
• Process: Washed
• Altitude: 2,030 MASL
• Harvest: November 2025
• Size: 250g

INTRO

A first year with Georgina Puma and her extremely small Gesha garden at Monte Verde — tucked away in the mountains of Santa Ana in Cusco, a region with a microclimate unique enough to allow nearly a full forest canopy of shade while still producing exceptional quality. Delicate, floral, and beautifully defined. In the cup: apple blossom, mandarin, and blueberry.

THE PRODUCER

Georgina Puma farms Monte Verde in Santa Ana — a sub-region of Cusco with a microclimate that sets it apart from most other Peruvian growing areas. The relatively high humidity that characterises Santa Ana allows Georgina to maintain near-full forest canopy shade over her Gesha plants — a rare and valuable approach that protects soil health, preserves local biodiversity, and slows cherry maturation in ways that build the aromatic concentration and delicate sweetness that define this lot. It is a remarkably intimate and careful operation, and this first-year purchase reflects SEY's confidence in the quality it produces.

Gesha was originally collected from the coffee forests of Ethiopia in the 1930s, distributed through the Lyamungu Research Station in Tanzania and then to CATIE in Central America in 1953 — where it was logged as accession T2722 — before being distributed throughout Panama via CATIE in the 1960s after its tolerance to coffee leaf rust was recognised. Though initially passed over by farmers due to brittle branches and low yields, it came to global prominence in 2005 when the Peterson family of Boquete, Panama, entered it into the Best of Panama competition, broke the green coffee auction price record, and introduced a variety that has since become a favourite of roasting and brewing competition winners worldwide.

THE PROCESS

The Washed process at Monte Verde involves:

🍒 Hand-picking — Gesha cherries carefully picked at peak ripeness 💧 Flotation — Floated to further remove defects before processing 🔧 De-pulping — Depulped on the day of harvest to preserve freshness and clarity 💧 Wet fermentation — Wet-fermented for 32 hours 💦 Washing — Thoroughly washed after fermentation to remove all residue ☀️ Raised-bed drying — Dried on raised beds until moisture content reaches 10.5%

The same-day depulping and 32-hour wet fermentation are the defining steps — by processing the cherries immediately after harvest and fermenting fully submerged in water, Georgina develops the apple blossom florality and mandarin citrus brightness that define this lot, while the careful raised-bed drying preserves the blueberry depth and clean, elegant structure that carry through to the finish.

THE CUP

A delicate, floral, and beautifully precise washed Gesha from one of Cusco's most distinctive and ecologically thoughtful small gardens — apple blossom florality, mandarin brightness, and a blueberry sweetness in a cup of exceptional clarity and charm. A first purchase that makes a very compelling case for many more to come.

Flavour Notes

🌸 Apple Blossom 🍊 Mandarin 🫐 Blueberry