Colombia | El Triunfo | Geisha Washed | #8470

About Finca El Triunfo

The Enciso Franco family has owned El Triunfo since June 2014. Camilo Enciso is the general manager at ASOPEP, a regional leader, and a great advocate for the Planadas cooperatives. He catalyzed a partnership between different Planadas cooperatives, which has led to greater market visibility for the region and an increased presence at trade shows and coffee events around the country. Enciso has a clear vision of positioning Planadas and maximizing the potential of this unique part of Colombia’s coffee lands.

Cultivation

In 2015, through a program implemented by ASOPEP, over 320 trees were planted at El Triunfo, mainly walnut, guamo, and vanilla. The farm has its own water sources and uses water from the community aqueduct. It has two forest conservation zones, each covering approximately 1 hectare.

The main shade on the farm is provided by carbonero trees (Albizia carbonaria), there are more than 100 trees, that are over 30 meters tall. 

Their harvesting team is trained to ensure that only optimally ripe cherries are picked. In the wet mill area, the coffee is submerged in water to remove any floating beans, leaves, or sticks. Afterward, a manual selection is done on a table built for this purpose. The coffee is then left in this area for 24 hours, exposed to air but under a roof. Next, the coffee is pulped without water and placed in plastic containers for a period of 96 to 144 hours, depending on the variety, ripeness, and ambient temperature.

The leftover cherry from each day is packed in polypropylene bags to accelerate decomposition, which is later used in vermiculture or composting, and then applied back to the coffee fields.

The washing is done with very clean water that comes directly from natural springs. There is only one wash, after which the coffee goes through pipes to tanks. From there, it is moved to the drying mill, where it is spread on wooden floors for 24 to 48 hours of direct sunlight exposure to remove moisture (bringing the moisture level down to 30-40%). Then, it is transferred to multi-tier drying racks in drying sheds, which are covered with shade netting to prevent the temperature from exceeding 40°C. The coffee stays in these racks for about 20 to 35 days, depending on the ambient temperature.

In the drying mill, the coffee is manually stirred every hour to ensure more even drying. The coffee is turned 3 to 4 times in the drying sheds during daylight hours.

It is important to note that all coffee movement, from the washed coffee tanks to the mill and the drying sheds, is done manually. There is no mechanization in this area.

During the harvest and mitaca harvests, an average of 8 people work on the picking, while the rest of the year, 4 permanent workers handle other tasks such as cleaning, fertilizing, planting, and weeding.

About Geisha

Geisha (also known as Gesha) is known for its exceptional cup quality, especially when grown at high altitudes. The variety comes from Ethiopian landrace coffees and was collected from Ethiopian coffee forests in the 1930s. The name supposedly derives from Ethiopia’s Gori Gesha forest.

There is some confusion with several genetically distinct varieties that have all been called Geisha, but the most famous variety is the Panama one. The variety was brought to Lyamungu research station in Tanzania and from there to Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE) in Central America in 1953. At CATIE, the variety was logged as T2722. CATIE distributed T2722 across Panama in the 1960s for its Coffee Leaf Rust (CLR) resistance, but its brittle branches meant it was not widely planted.

Panama Geisha reached its modern fame in 2005 when a Geisha lot won the “Best of Panama” competition and broke contemporary records at over $20/pound. DNA analysis has demonstrated that the Panama Geisha descended from T2722 is distinct and uniform. Today, Geisha is known for its delicate florals, jasmine and stone fruit.

Coffee in Colombia

Colombia has been producing and exporting coffee renowned for their full body, bright acidity and rich aftertaste, since the early 19th century.

Colombia boasts a wide range of climates and geographic conditions that, in turn, produce their own unique flavors in coffee. This also means that harvest times can vary quite a bit. In fact, between all its different regions, Colombia produces fresh crop nearly all year round.

The increasing focus on the specialty industry is changing the way traders and farmers do business. It is becoming more common for farmers to isolate the highest quality beans in their lots to market separately. These higher-quality lots are often sold under specific brands or stories.

Besides its wide variety of cup profiles, Colombia has quickly expanded its certification options over the past 10 years. The most common certifications available are Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance, UTZ and Organic.