Raquel Lasso Washed Gesha - La Bohemia - Colombia (Brian Quan collaboration)

A special collaboration coffee release with our friend Brian Quan

Whole Bean
Roast: Light
Recommended Rest: 4-6 weeks from roast date
Tasting Notes: raspberry, strawberry, rosehips, jasmine tea

Origin Details

Region: Nariño, Colombia
Elevation: 2015m
Producer: Raquel Lasso
Process: Washed
Variety: Gesha

ABOUT THIS COFFEE AND PRODUCER

Thirty years ago, Raquel and her husband bought a property called La Esperanza and began planting coffee. It was a challenge, however, because the soil had been depleted by a monoculture of yuca. After a long process of restoration, they were finally able to plant some Caturra, which they later replaced with Colombia to combat rust.

In 2019, they began planting the Geisha and Bourbon varieties, replacing their oldest coffee, and finally changed the name of the farm to La Bohemia, because it has always been a place for meetings, gatherings, serenades and everything related to good living. Raquel and her family are committed to help their neighbors and maintain social ties among the community, which is why they founded FUDAM. 

Besides their commitment to strengthening their community, one of their main goals is to improve agricultural practices and minimize negative impacts on the environment. They also focus on improving the lives of women coffee farmers. In summary, Raquel's family has been a leader in coffee production in their region for many years, and thanks to FUDAM, they have improved the quality of coffee and the incomes of hundreds of small producers in their region, while maintaining their core principles of gender equality and environmental stewardship. Raquel is proud to produce wonderful coffee that has a positive socio-economic impact in Nariño and Colombia. 

For this coffee, the cherries are harvested and pulped on the same day and fermented for 24 hours. They are then washed three times to remove any remaining pulp and then dried for 10 days.

Source: Banexport

WHY WE SELECTED THIS COFFEE

We are thrilled to present our next Brian Quan collaboration coffee.  This is a stellar lot from the deeply respected female producer Raquel Lasso of La Bohemia. While we’ve admired her coffees for a long time we knew we had to buy this special lot after it made it to our cupping table. It was universally loved for its cleanliness but still vibrant red flavors that are very atypical of a washed gesha. 

For a long time we’ve been searching for a clean but loud washed coffee for a fun collaboration and Brian and I (Ming) both thought this would be a great fit. On the palate you’ll detect a very red version of a gesha with bright raspberries in the initial sip followed by sweet strawberries.

Depending on the brew style you may get rose hips and jasmine like florals throughout or towards the end in the linger of the coffee. The jasmine may present as a sweet delicate jasmine tea in longer ratio brews. Versatility is very high in this coffee and light roast espresso options taste just as nice. Pick up a larger bag size if you’d like to experiment or grab the smaller size if you just want to be part of the tasting fun.

To learn more about this collaboration coffee and other content on all things specialty coffee, visit Brian's YouTube channel