Colombia Marlon Bolaños Gesha Washed

Region: Huila, Colombia 

Producer: Marlon Bolaños / The Three Coffee Farmers 

Varietal: Gesha

Process: Washed: 48hrs held in cherry underwater in barrels, then fully drained and left to dry ferment further for another 48hrs, then fully washed and dried on raised beds for 10-15 days 

Tasting notes: Yellow Fig, pineapple, bergamot

Producer info and cup notes: 

As we near our 1 year anniversary of launching Shoebox, Colombia season is well underway and we are particularly interested in extremely high quality, advanced fermentation Geshas. This past harvest has truly brought us some of the best coffees we've ever had, and this fruit bomb from Marlon Bolaños's project "The Three Coffee Farmers" is amongst the best of them. Despite growing up in a coffee producing family, it wasn't until the age of 17 that Marlon took an interest in it, signing himself up for a Barista education course at SENA where he learned brewing, green coffee grading, and sensory analysis. Upon returning from that course, Marlon began planting differentiated varietals like pink bourbon, gesha, and chiroso while experimenting with new fermentation techniques on each subsequent harvest. Flash forward to today, and the farm is now owned by Marlon and his 2 brothers, Pedro and Hemerson. Marlon is responsible for quality control, fermentation protocols, sampling and part of the logistics operations. Marlon has also competed and won in several barista and brewing competitions over the last several years, taking spring water from his family's farm for brewing. It's especially suited for coffee due to the natural trace mineral composition, and now coveted by peers after earning the name "Champion's Water." This specific washed gesha lot has quite an interesting process to it, having been submerged in cherry underwater for 48 hours before being drained, left in the same barrels dry to further ferment naturally for 48 hours before being fully washed and dried on raised beds.

This advanced processing creates an extremely unique cup, bursting with yellow florals, yellow fig, starfruit, mango and a complex citrus note that reminds us of grapefruit and pomelo. The intense juiciness and acidity here absolutely leapt off the cupping table and we confirmed our forward contract after the first sip.