Colombia — Wilton Benitez Granja Paraíso 92 Gesha (Anaerobic Lager Yeast Inoculation)

Tastes Like — 🍑 Peach Gummy • 🌸 Jasmine • 🍵 Red Tea

DETAILS

• Producer: Wilton Benitez

• Farm: Granja Paraíso 92

• Region: Cauca, Colombia

• Varietal: Gesha

• Process: Anaerobic Lager Yeast Inoculation

• Altitude: 2,100 MASL

• Roast: Light

• Rest: 2–3 weeks from roast

INTRO

From Wilton Benitez at Granja Paraíso 92 — a lager yeast-inoculated Gesha from one of the most technically accomplished and internationally celebrated specialty coffee operations in Colombia. At 2,100 MASL in Cauca, Wilton's Gesha trees produce extraordinary raw material; the lager yeast inoculation directs that potential toward a cup of delicate complexity and aromatic precision. In the cup: peach gummy sweetness, jasmine florality, and a refined red tea finish.

THE PRODUCER

Wilton Benitez is one of the most celebrated producers in Colombian specialty coffee — the founder of Granja Paraíso 92, an estate in Cauca that has become a global reference point for what precision agriculture and experimental post-harvest processing can achieve together. Named for the year he began farming, Granja Paraíso 92 is the culmination of decades of research, investment, and relentless quality pursuit. Wilton's processing innovations — including his pioneering work with thermal shock, yeast inoculation, and controlled anaerobic fermentation — have influenced a generation of Colombian producers and placed his farm on the menus of the world's most demanding specialty roasters.

At 2,100 MASL in Cauca, the farm enjoys exceptional growing conditions — cool temperatures, volcanic soils, and the slow cherry development that builds the aromatic concentration and complex sweetness that make lots like this so compelling. The Gesha variety, first collected from the coffee forests of Ethiopia in the 1930s and brought to global prominence at the 2005 Best of Panama competition, finds ideal conditions here — and in Wilton's hands, with the additional complexity of a lager yeast fermentation, it produces something genuinely extraordinary.

THE PROCESS

The Anaerobic Lager Yeast Inoculation process at Granja Paraíso 92 involves:

🍒 Hand-picking — Gesha cherries selectively harvested at peak ripeness 🔍 Sorting — Carefully sorted to ensure only the finest ripe cherries enter fermentation 🧫 Lager yeast inoculation — A specific lager yeast strain introduced to the fermentation environment, selected for its ability to direct aromatic development toward the delicate peach, floral, and tea character that defines this lot 🔒 Anaerobic fermentation — Inoculated cherries fermented in sealed, oxygen-free conditions for a precisely controlled period 🔧 Depulping — Outer skin removed after anaerobic fermentation ☀️ Drying — Dried to optimal moisture content under careful monitoring

The lager yeast inoculation in an anaerobic environment is the defining step — by introducing a specific yeast strain selected for its aromatic properties, Wilton directs the fermentation environment with brewing-level precision, building the peach gummy sweetness, jasmine florality, and red tea elegance that define this Gesha while maintaining the clean, refined structure that makes it so rewarding.

THE CUP

A technically masterful and deeply elegant lager yeast Gesha from one of Colombia's most celebrated and influential producers — peach gummy sweetness, jasmine florality, and a long red tea finish in a cup of exceptional delicacy and aromatic precision. Wilton Benitez at 2,100 MASL in Cauca, doing what he does best.

Flavour Notes

🍑 Peach Gummy 🌸 Jasmine 🍵 Red Tea