DEMÓSTENES TANTALEÁN, Anoxic Washed Gesha

Demóstenes Tantaleán Acuña is a second-generation coffee producer. His family began cultivating coffee after recognising Tacabamba’s favourable climate and the opportunity coffee offered as a sustainable source of income. Growing up in coffee farming, Demóstenes developed a deep passion for the land and for cultivation. With the ambition of uplifting his community and showcasing his region’s potential, he made a strategic shift toward quality-focused production. Rather than prioritising volume, he chose to plant fine varieties such as Gesha, aiming to differentiate his coffee and achieve more complex, distinctive cup profiles. His work reflects respect for tradition alongside a forward-looking commitment to specialty coffee standards.

Demóstenes manages his farm primarily using organic fertilisation methods. He applies natural inputs such as island guano and guinea pig manure to enrich soil fertility while maintaining ecological balance. Weed control is carried out manually with machetes and brush cutters, reducing reliance on chemical herbicides and helping to preserve soil health. This approach balances traditional farming knowledge with sustainable agricultural practices suited to high-altitude specialty coffee production.

Each cherry is picked by hand, and only the ones that are perfectly ripe are selected, ensuring optimal sweetness and consistency. Once they come in from the field, the cherries go through a flotation tank, which gently separates out anything underripe or damaged before they're de-pulped. From there, the coffee rests for 36 hours in a controlled anoxic ferment for 36 hours. Limiting the oxygen brings out real aromatic depth and lets the Gesha's floral, fruit-forward character come through beautifully. When fermentation is complete, the coffee is washed clean of any remaining mucilage.

The parchment then moves to a solar dryer, where it dries slowly and evenly until it reaches a suitable level to mitigate the risk of mould development. Once properly dried, the coffee is stored under appropriate conditions to safeguard the quality achieved at each stage of production. Great care is taken to maintain traceability and preserve the integrity of the lot from farm to export.

Gesha is a coffee variety originally collected from Ethiopian forests in the 1930s. It was sent to the Lyamungu research station in Tanzania, then brought to Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE) in Central America in 1953, where it was logged as accession T2722. Recognized for its tolerance to coffee leaf rust, CATIE distributed it widely throughout Panama in the 1960s. However, farmers didn't favor it due to its brittle branches and relatively low yield, so it wasn't widely planted.

There are actually multiple genetically distinct plant types referred to as Gesha, many sharing similar Ethiopian origins. World Coffee Research has confirmed that the Panamanian Gesha descendant of T2722 is a distinct and uniform variety. When managed well at high altitude, its cup profile can be phenomenal, known for delicate floral and peach aromas.

The lack of a standard translation from Ethiopian dialects to English has resulted in two interchangeably used spellings. The coffee was originally collected near a mountain commonly rendered in English as "Gesha." However, it was first recorded in germplasm records as "Geisha," a spelling mostly maintained by coffee researchers and germplasm banks for decades. The use of "Geisha" is problematic, though, as its non-coffee context carries specific connotations that many feel have been misappropriated for marketing value.

Gesha's global reputation was cemented by the Peterson family of Boquete. Their Hacienda Esmeralda won the Best of Panama competition in 2004 with this variety. The following year, their Gesha received exceptionally high marks and broke the then-record for green coffee auction prices, selling for over $20/pound.

The washed process was designed to minimise the risk of off-flavours caused by uncontrolled fermentation during the natural process. Cherries are typically sorted using a flotation tank, where under-ripe or defective fruits float to the top and can be removed. The remaining cherries are then pulped and left in a tank to ferment until the sticky fruit mucilage is soft enough to be washed off the parchment, a paper-like layer surrounding the seed.

The design and cleanliness of the tanks used for fermentation are crucial, and the type, degree and speed of microbial activity depends on various factors. These include the amount of fruit remaining, the presence of bacteria and yeasts, whether the tank is filled with water, and the environmental conditions.

Once the mucilage has sufficiently degraded, it's washed away with water. The remaining parchment coffee, as it's commonly called, is then dried until it reaches a safe moisture content. The bacteria rich and sugary water used in the process must be treated carefully, as it can cause algae blooms if it enters streams and rivers.

In situations where large amounts of coffee are processed in bulk, such as in Ethiopia, some operations have found it economical to use a mechanical de-mucilager. This device removes all the fruit from the parchment with minimal water, bypassing the fermentation stage entirely. However, some believe this leads to a reduction in cup quality, as many flavour precursors are created through fermentation.