Gesha By Golly Wow
If you pay any attention to our coffee menu, first of all, thanks; second of all, you might have noticed that our lineup of three single origin coffees, more often than not, changes all at once. But, occasionally, coffee being a finitely available product, there just isn't any more to sell, and we have to do a little switcheroo. So it goes with our Amor de Dios, which was delicious and will be missed. But that does give us to get an opportunity to get one of our favorite things: new delicious coffee. And the coffee we're going to start serving you this week is most definitely delicious. It's a Gesha variety coffee from the famous (coffee famous anyways) Hacienda la Esmaralda in Panama.
Before we go any further, let's break down that last sentence a little. Much like apples or grapes, coffee cherry can grow in different varieties, which grow better or worse in different climates, have more or less disease resistance, have higher or lower yields, and, most importantly for our understanding here, taste differently. Coffee has so many factors that influence its taste - where it was grown, the processing, the roasting, and the preparation, to name a few - that we barely get to talk about variety on the consumer level. However, when a variety is as distinct as Gesha, we have no choice but to bring attention to it.
The Gesha variety is named after the town in Ethiopia where it was first discovered. As many varieties do, it traveled the world, eventually finding its way to Central America. After decades of being planted mainly for its disease resistance and mixed in with other coffees, it was cupped in 2005 by Daniel Peterson from Hacienda la Esmeralda in Panama, and thus began its journey from largely an afterthought in specialty coffee to the most coveted, expensive variety in the world. Good Geshas are super aromatic, sweet, floral, and dynamic. It changes flavor as it cools, even more than other coffees, and it somehow manages to taste like everything all at once (maybe a touch of an overstatement) while still having those flavor notes ring out distinctly. Now, like I said, variety is only a small part of the flavor puzzle, so a Gesha that isn't taken good care of at origin and in the roaster won't live up to the hype. The first part of that puzzle we've got covered: this Gesha comes from Hacienda la Esmeralda, the same place this coffee originally came to prominence. As far as the roasting, let me introduce you to our new friends at Square One Coffee!
We've been dying to work with Lancaster, PA-based Square One for a while now, ever since we first tasted their delicious coffees and met Jess Steffy, who owns Square One with her husband Josh and is basically the coolest coffee person we know. It took a few months of back and forth to match one of their coffees with one of our needs, but when we reached out to Jess in early April they were just about to launch this absolutely gorgeous coffee and it was basically a done deal. From the moment we first tasted it in the lab, we knew it would take something crazy for us not to buy it, and that craziness never arrived. We're very proud to bring you this awesome coffee; it's certainly the most expensive thing we've served since our last Gesha and, as with that coffee, we're very confident that it's worth it. Come ask our baristas about it and try a cup, starting tomorrow (Tuesday, 5/12) morning!
- Maciej, Director of Coffee, Gregorys