September - Wilder Lasso - (Colombia, Natural, Geisha)

This is yet another stellar coffee from our friend Wilder Lasso. This time we are excited to share a well balanced Natural processed Geisha.

Tasting Notes: Fruit Loops, Blueberry, Lavender Florals.

Variety: Geisha
Country: Colombia
Region: Pitalito
Process: Natural
Altitude: 1900 MASL
Producer: Wilder Lasso
Farm: Finca Bella Alejandria
Roast Level: Light

In the cup
We get an intense, juicy, and sweet profile of blueberry jam and fruit loop cereal with intense florals that remind us of lavender. This coffee has a long finish and a silky body.

About The Producer
Wilder Lasso (or Lazo) is actually a veterinarian specialized in livestock farming. As the coffee price continued to decline in 2016 and his father fell seriously ill, he decided to bring the family farm up to speed together with his brother. Initially, their coffees scored between 80-83 points on the cupping scale, despite elaborate processes and preparations. Wilder started examining soil samples and using targeted nutrients and fertilizers to neutralize the pH value, thereby increasing the availability of nutrients for the coffee trees. He refers to this as precision agriculture.

Processing
Wilder Lazo ensures that the soil is very well supplied with nutrients. Then, the fully ripe, extremely large fruits are harvested. For this Geisha lot, the coffee cherries were first sealed in bags for 80 hours, submerged in their own mucilage. They then spent 120 hours sealed in thanks, without CO2, at a perfectly controlled pH above 5.5 and a chill between 12-14 degrees Celcius.

Variety
This variety was originally collected from coffee forests in Ethiopia in the 1930s. From there, it was sent to the Lyamungu research station in Tanzania, and then brought to Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE) in Central America in the 1953, where it was logged as accession T2722. It was distributed throughout Panama via CATIE in the 1960s after it had been recognized for tolerance to coffee leaf rust. However, the plant's branches were brittle and not favored by farmers so it was not widely planted. The coffee came to prominence in 2005 when the Peterson family of Boquete, Panama, entered it into the "Best of Panama" competition and auction. It received exceptionally high marks and broke the then-record for green coffee auction prices, selling for over $20/pound.There is significant confusion about Geisha because there are multiple genetically distinct plant types that have been referred to as Geisha, many of which share similar geographic origins in Ethiopia. Recent genetic diversity analyses conducted by World Coffee Research confirm that Panamanian Geisha descendent from T2722 is distinct and uniform. It is associated with extremely high cup quality when the plants are managed well at high altitude, and is known for its delicate floral, jasmine, and peach-like aromas.