This is our third year working with Jimmy Gomez. His farm, La Guadua, produces some of our favourite Colombian Geisha and we've become great fans of his processing precision. This coffee is sweet, and reminds us of apple pie with nice floral. Jimmy was born and raised a farmer. He has always admired the beautiful work of producing coffee. As he grew up in the industry, he learned and innovated together with other coffee growers. About 10 years ago, he learned about different varietals, which lead him to decide on planting a coffee with very exotic characteristics and a smooth finish just like tea. The variety was Geisha. Having already tried this variety in the past, he wanted his to stand out. So he began to implement several types of fermentation. The end result of these experimental processing methods was an experience superior to anything he had experienced previously. Each cherry is picked for over ripe cherries, followed by floating and sorting which Jimmy says is an important steps as it aids in the fermentation time. The first fermentation occurs for 10-12 hours before cherries are pulped. This is followed by the coffee sitting in water for 2 hours. Lastly, the coffee is anaerobic fermented for 72 hours in plastic barrels. The coffee is then dried for 30 days, slow drying with shadow covering. 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.