Peru — Solorzano Family La Margarita Gesha (Dry Washed)

Tastes Like — 🌸 Jasmine • 🍇 White Grape • 🍵 Black Tea

DETAILS

• Producer: Solorzano Family (Marco, Neto & Ivan)
• Farm: La Margarita
• Region: Ocombamba, Cusco, Peru
• Varietal: Gesha
• Process: Dry Washed (24hr Fermentation + 15-Day Raised-Bed Drying)
• Altitude: 1,900 MASL
• Harvest: October

INTRO

From the Solorzano family at La Margarita — a delicate and sweet dry washed Gesha from one of Cusco's most remarkable family farms, bursting with acidity and complex sweetness. Performs exceedingly well as a filter. In the cup: jasmine, white grape, and black tea — refined, tea-like, and beautifully precise.

THE PRODUCER

La Margarita spans approximately 50 hectares in the Inca Valley region of Ocombamba — but only around 9 hectares are dedicated to coffee. The rest remains covered by native forest, preserving the natural ecosystem and protecting water resources. Third-generation brothers Marco, Neto, and Ivan Solorzano carry forward a family legacy that combines careful shade cultivation under banana and pacae trees with a strong varietal focus on Gesha, Yellow Gesha, Sidra, Bourbon, and Typica at 1,900 MASL.

Cusco is a fascinating and rapidly emerging specialty origin — soaring heights, volcanic soils, and unique microclimates across the Inca Valley create conditions for coffees of vibrant acidity and exceptional complex sweetness. La Margarita is one of the farms helping define what this region is capable of, and the Gesha grown here — with slow cherry maturation in the cool mountain climate — delivers the hallmark florality and delicate complexity the variety is celebrated for.

THE PROCESS

The Dry Washed process at La Margarita involves:

🍒 Hand-picking — Gesha cherries selectively harvested at peak ripeness 🔧 Depulping — Outer skin removed before fermentation 🧪 24-hour dry fermentation — Beans fermented dry in their mucilage for 24 hours 💧 Channel washing — Washed through channels after fermentation to remove all residue ☀️ Raised-bed drying — Dried on raised beds for approximately 15 days to optimal moisture content

The 24-hour dry fermentation is the defining step — fermenting without water in the bean's own mucilage builds the clean, refined complexity and bright acidity that define this lot, while the 15-day raised-bed drying preserves the jasmine florality, white grape sweetness, and black tea elegance that make this such a compelling and refined filter expression.

THE CUP

A delicate, sweet, and beautifully refined dry washed Gesha from one of Cusco's most ecologically thoughtful family farms — jasmine florality, white grape sweetness, and a clean black tea elegance in a cup bursting with acidity and complex sweetness. La Margarita at its most precisely expressed.

Flavour Notes

🌸 Jasmine 🍇 White Grape 🍵 Black Tea