ICON 61 - La Senda, Gesha Con Mosto

We've been buying from La Senda since the very beginning of PLOT, making this our oldest and one of our most valued relationships. We fell in love with their coffees first, then came to know this wonderful family as people. We were honoured to visit their farm for the first time last year and made some treasured memories.

Walking through the lush hillsides where the coffee grows, you'll find a few Gesha trees between the Pache and Bourbon in the higher areas. The total harvest yields around 120kg, processed in small amounts using their trademark experimental fermentations. These tiny nano-lots are usually snapped up for competition, so we're really lucky to get our hands on this one.

After resting, the cherries are fermented with mosto in an anoxic environment for 60 hours whilst the pH and temperature are strictly monitored. The mosto comes from a previous coffee fermentation with added Champagne yeast. The resulting liquid is rich in aromatic compounds and sugars. When used in a fresh batch, the mosto, already concentrated with microorganisms and nutrients, intensifies the fermentation and produces more complex esters. The result is a coffee with fuller body, more intense sweetness, and richer aromatic complexity.

Drying begins under full sun for the first 18 hours, with temperature monitored to ensure it doesn't exceed 40 degrees Celsius—critical for quality and longevity. The remaining drying is carried out slowly over 28 days on raised beds under natural shade until humidity reaches 10.5–10.7%. The coffee then rests for 40 days, allowing the humidity to homogenise before being sent to the mill for export preparation.

Finca La Senda, now managed by Arnoldo Pérez Melendez and his wife Maria Eugenia Escobar, traces its roots to the 1940s when Arnoldo's father pioneered coffee cultivation in the vicinity of Aldea El Socorro, Acatenango. The finca stretches from the village borders to Mount Balàm—"the hill of the Jaguar" in the native language. Coffee is cultivated at altitudes between 1,550 and 1,970 meters above sea level, covering approximately 27 hectares. Beyond these elevations, nature is left undisturbed, preserving the unique biosphere.

Until 2017, Arnoldo supplied coffee to the local cooperative. However, after meeting a specialty coffee consultant, he recognized the potential of his finca's cherries and shifted focus to producing specialty micro-lots. Construction of processing facilities (beneficio) began in April 2017 and was completed within six months, just in time for the 2018 harvest.

Arnoldo applied his extensive agricultural knowledge, while Maria Eugenia utilized her culinary expertise to master and refine coffee fermentation and processing techniques. In its inaugural processing year, Finca La Senda concentrated on consistent cherry selection, extended and controlled fermentations, and slow shade-drying.

La Senda has established a rigorous harvesting protocol for all their lots. Cherries are harvested once they reach an average of 24 degrees Brix—a measure of the fruit's sugar content. The coffee is then transported to the mill in clean containers to prevent damage. It's washed in a water tank, allowing less dense cherries to float and be easily removed. Unripe, overripe, and defective fruits are manually sorted out, and the remaining cherries rest for 24 hours before processing begins.

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.

Often called anaerobic fermentation, "anoxic" is the correct term for the environment where fermentation occurs. While fermentation itself is inherently anaerobic (not requiring oxygen), many other microbial processes happening simultaneously do need oxygen. One such process is the production of acetic acid, which can be pleasant in small amounts but leads to very sour, vinegar-like notes and "farmyard" aromas when concentrated. By fermenting coffee without oxygen, you can slow acetic acid production while encouraging more intense fruit flavours. This process can be carried out in various vessels, sometimes with added CO2 (carbonic maceration), and at different stages—either with whole fruit or after the coffee has been pulped.

The dry/natural process is the oldest and simplest method of preparing green coffee. Well-suited to environments with limited water access and hot climates, this process typically uses no water and requires no specialized equipment.

After harvesting, coffee cherries are dried until they reach about 20% moisture content. They're then usually rested for a few weeks in bags before being sent to a mill for hulling and export preparation.

The cherries can be dried on large patios or raised African beds—large trays with a mesh base that allow increased airflow for even drying. Best practices include keeping the drying coffee in shade during the hottest parts of the day and avoiding re-wetting by rain or condensation. Regular turning and good ventilation are also crucial to prevent mould formation.

To avoid defective seeds and sour fermentation off-flavours, it's best to sort the harvested cherries during the initial drying stage when under-ripe, over-ripe, and damaged cherries are easily spotted. After just a couple of days, the cherries turn a dark red-brown colour before becoming black, making it impossible to visually identify problem cherries.

Coffee begins fermenting from the moment it's picked and continues while there's enough moisture and high temperatures—conditions that favour microbial growth. This uncontrolled fermentation leads to the development of wild, fruity flavours and an increased perception of sweetness and body.