Colombia Yessica y Diego Parra Geisha

Yessica and Diego Parra are siblings, and the fourth generation in their family to grow coffee. Their great-grandfather first started growing coffee after seeing how profitable it could be, and their grandparents went on to become the first local buyers in their area for Colombia's National Federation of Coffee Growers. Three years ago, Yessica and Diego teamed up with a couple of friends and bought a 7-hectare farm called El Mirador, in Pitalito, southern Huila. They've been treating it like a working lab ever since, with Diego figuring out the fermentation and Yessica deciding which lots leave the farm with their name on the bag. Their brand, Diwan Coffee, launched in November 2024, and this Geisha is the second coffee they've sent us this year, after their washed Papayo earlier on.

El Mirador sits at 1,750 meters above sea level, and the whole place is small enough that Yessica and Diego know every variety on it by name. Alongside Geisha, they grow Caturra, Pink Bourbon, Bourbon Aji, Papayo, and Sidra, treating each one as its own project with its own profile. They've got six people working the farm with them, and harvest runs from October through January, which is later and slower than coffees grown lower down. Up there, cherries get more time on the branch before anyone picks them, and that shows up in the cup.

With a Natural process, every step matters, and Yessica and Diego are careful about all of them. Cherry selection comes first. Only the ripest go in, since whatever doesn't make it past that stage isn't going to fix itself later. The whole cherries spend 60 hours fermenting in open tanks, then move to the drying area, where the temperature stays steady for about twenty days. Drying that slowly, with the temperature held in check, lets the sugars in the cherry settle into the bean instead of going volatile the way fast, sun-only Naturals sometimes do. You end up with a cup that's intense and structured at the same time.

In the cup, currant and rhubarb tart lead the way, with violet running underneath, and the body is juicy and velvety while the acidity stays vibrant and punchy. There's a lot to track in this one.

Producer: Yessica y Diego Parra, El Mirador
Region: Pitalito, Huila, Colombia
Altitude: 1,750 MASL
Variety: Geisha
Processing Method: Natural