Colombia — Café Granja La Esperanza, Las Margaritas — Geisha (Natural, 72h Fermentation)

Tastes Like — 🍍 Tropical Fruits • 🥃 Rum • 💐 Lavender • 🫧 Cardamom

DETAILS

• Producer: Café Granja La Esperanza (Rigoberto Herrera)
• Farm: Las Margaritas
• Region: Valle del Cauca, Colombia
• Varietal: Geisha
• Process: Natural; 72h Fermentation
• Score: 89
• Harvest: 2025
• Size: 100g

INTRO

A Geisha of singular depth and succulence from the revered Las Margaritas farm. Granja La Esperanza's natural fermentation of 72 hours unlocks an opulent, liqueur-like complexity in the cup — tropical fruits and rum warmth on the attack, lavender's floral delicacy unfolding through the mid-palate, and cardamom's spiced elegance on the finish.

This is a micro-lot that illustrates exactly why CGLE's Geisha programme is considered benchmark work in Colombian specialty coffee.

THE PRODUCER

Café Granja La Esperanza (CGLE) is a multigenerational family enterprise founded in 1945, now led by Rigoberto and Luis Herrera. The business operates across several distinct farms in the Valle del Cauca — Potosi, Cerro Azul, La Esperanza, and Las Margaritas — each managed with a focus on variety-specific excellence and processing innovation.

CGLE is internationally recognised as a pioneer in introducing the Geisha variety to Colombia. The estate has developed proprietary hybrid varieties, implemented innovative fermentation protocols, and maintained an unwavering commitment to social responsibility across its supply chain. Their coffees regularly appear on the cupping tables of the world's most progressive roasters.

THE PROCESS

The 72-hour Natural Fermentation at Las Margaritas involves:

• 🍒 Selective Harvest — Cherries hand-picked at full maturity
• ✅ Sorting — Floatation sorting to remove immature or defective cherries
• 🧪 Extended Natural Fermentation — Whole cherries fermented for 72 hours under controlled conditions
• ☀️ Drying — Cherries dried slowly on raised beds to preserve aromatic intensity and sucrosité
• 📅 Resting — Green coffee rested before export to stabilise the profile

The extended fermentation time at CGLE is carefully managed to develop complexity and the variety's characteristic floral and tropical character without tipping into fermented defects.

THE CUP

A sumptuous and highly complex cup — the opening is vibrantly tropical and exotic, followed by the warm, enveloping character of rum that gives the coffee an almost liqueur-like depth. Lavender brings delicate floral finesse through the mid-palate, and cardamom's spiced elegance completes a finish of remarkable persistence and elegance.

Flavour Notes

• 🍍 Tropical Fruits
• 🥃 Rum
• 💐 Lavender
• 🫧 Cardamom