Reserve Collection Joel Villalta Gesha, Panama

This is the first year we have sourced this coffee, and we're very excited to have Panama Gesha back on the menu for the first time in quite a few seasons! It was produced by Creativa Coffee District, or CCD, a forward-looking specialty coffee producer in Boquete, in the Chiriquí province of Panama. They've worked to transform a traditional wet mill and drying patio into a modern, state-of-the-art processing facility, and their approach likens processing coffee to art, with the cherries as their canvas.

Through collaboration with Finca Los Pozos, carefully selected cherries are delivered to CCD where they're transformed through controlled fermentation. The processing begins with cherry stabilisation, where the coffee is washed to remove impurities and climate-stabilised to level out metabolic activity before fermentation starts. It then undergoes an extended anaerobic fermentation of 268 hours in sealed bags at controlled temperatures between 14°C and 28°C, with mucilage fermentation driving flavour development toward pronounced acidity and citrus, fruity notes. Finally, the coffee is slow-dried for 30 days down to a moisture content of 10.2%. This extended, temperature-controlled process yields a rich, silky-bodied cup with tropical fruit flavours and tartaric acidity.

This Gesha is sourced from Finca Los Pozos in the Tierras Altas region of Chiriquí, Panama, on the slopes of Volcán Barú. The area's high altitude, volcanic soils and varied microclimates give rise to some of the country's most distinctive coffee profiles.

This coffee has a rich, silky body, tropical fruit notes and crisp tartaric acidity. It also offers a distinctive tart cherry note running through the whole drinking experience.

Roasting notes: Gesha sits on the Ethiopian Landrace branch of the coffee DNA tree, and as such benefits from a faster overall roast time to best highlight its vibrant florals. This particular lot requires more heat application in the first half of the roast, and a faster development time, to keep its cherry notes crisp and allow the tropical fruit notes to shine.

Brewing notes: We recommend trying a 1:17 ratio and a coarser grind to keep the cherry notes as bright as possible. You could also try a cool bloom of 85°C, to be rewarded with increased flavour clarity.