Nicaragua La Bastilla Geisha Natural

Coffee Description:

• Cupping Notes: 
  • Strawberry, Tropical Fruit, Clove, Cocoa Powder, Rose Hips
• Body: Medium
• Acidity: Medium
• Process: Natural
• Region: Jinotega
• Altitude: 1300-1500
• Variety: Geisha
• Harvest: December-March
• Micro-Lot

La Bastilla Coffee Estates, located in the north-east region of Jinotega, NIcaragua, is renowned for its coffee. On its two farms, Finca La Bastilla and Finca Santa Luz, the estate employs around 50 permanent and up to 600 temporary employees during the harvest season. Surrounded by the natural reserve Cerro Datanli El Diablo, just a few kilometers from Lago de Apanas, Finca La Bastilla is a tropical paradise for the fauna and flora founded on deep, favorable volcanic soils. Since 2003, the farm has been certified by the Rainforest Alliance and is striving for continued excellence. 

This new Geisha green coffee micro-lot was sourced from Finca La Bastilla, an idyllic farm set in the high peaks of Nicaragua's Jinotega department. Ripe red coffee cherries were picked from Geisha trees, sorted, and laid out to dry without removing the fruit or skin. The resulting vibrant, sweet, fruit-forward cup was the result of pairing the Geisha variety with the natural (dry) processing.

Geisha coffee beans are a variety under the Arabica species of coffee. It’s also one of the most expensive varieties of coffee in the world, valued for its distinct floral and tea-like flavor character. Geisha trees have low yields and can be difficult to cultivate which adds to their scarcity on the market.  Geisha coffee, as it was originally known, was collected from the Geisha region in Ethiopia and brought to Central America in 1953 when it was mislabeled, “Geisha”. Ever since its success at the “Best of Panama” auction, Geisha has been gaining in popularity and farmers are eager to cash in. Today, Geisha or Geisha coffee beans are cultivated at origins around the world, including Nicaragua.

A Strictly High Grown (SHG) coffee is grown at an altitude of 1,200 meters above sea level or higher. When coffee cherries grow at high altitudes, they tend to mature more slowly. This allows the fruit to take in more nutrients, resulting in denser, sweeter green coffee beans that are considered higher quality. Due to the longer maturation, harvesting and production of SHG coffees generally occurs later in the season. During dry milling, this lot was further sorted to European Preparation (EP) specifications with a minimum screen size of 15 and above and a maximum of eight defects within 300 grams.