Gesha
Honey
Finca Lerida

Tastes Like: Rosehip, Limeade, Franginipani

Origin: Finca Lerida, Chiriqui, Panama

Variety: Gesha

Producer: Maria Antonella Amoruso

Elevation: 1600-2000 masl

Process:  Honey

Farm and Producer

Maria Antonella Amoruso produces this Gesha selection from Finca Lerida, Chiriqui, Panama. The growing elevation for this lot is 1600-2000 masl.

Variety

Gesha, also spelled Geisha, is an Arabica variety with Ethiopian origins. It is valued for high cup-quality potential and floral aromatics, especially under suitable high-elevation growing conditions. Its expression also depends on cultivation, processing, and roasting.

Processing

Finca Lerida is currently owned and managed by Sonia Amoruso and her extended family, who purchased the property in 2009. As a farm however, the estate dates back over 100 years. The property includes a vintage hotel with amenities that equal the valley’s natural beauty, and which serves as a landmark to local history and has been a source of income for the estate for generations. The hotel was the primary focus when Sonia’s family first purchased the estate. However Sonia, originally planning to manage hospitality, was quickly captured by the estate’s coffee production and has managed the coffee operations ever since. Sonia works with 30 year-round employees and another 60 people who meticulously pick ripe cherry during the harvest. Lerida’s central wet mill is as old as the farm itself, and fresh-picked cherry is still sorted for under-ripes and damages using the siphon invented by the original owner in the 1920s. For this honey preparation, the cherries are depulped and the coffee dries with mucilage remaining around the parchment. Finca Lerida also has housing and a school for employees and their families.