Colombia Arley Vargas

Cost per 250mL serving - $2.18

We have been on the lookout for some incredibly floral, complex, and delicate yet accessible geishas from Colombia for a bit of time now, and feel that this stunning lot from Arley Vargas of Finca La Piragua fits those criteria to a tee. Given the immense quality and layers of flavor that this coffee expresses, it could easily pass for a highly exclusive and pricey geisha offering, however as luck would have it, we are able to share this one with the world for an incredibly accessible price. If you’ve been wanting to wade into the world of beautiful washed geishas, this is the one to begin with. When enjoying this coffee, expect to be hit by a wave of perfumed, pink peony florals blended with ripe, juicy, orange cantaloupe, and made bright by stable blood orange acidity throughout.

Arley is a second generation coffee producer who works alongside his father, Alexander Vargas, on their shared farm, Finca La Piragua, which is located at 1.800 masl in Huila, Colombia. The farm is 18 hectares in size, and is fully operated following regenerative farming practices, which include reforestation of previously deforested parts of the farm. With such a stunning introduction to the work of Alexander and Arley, we can’t wait to see what the future holds for them, and to hopefully continue to work with their outstanding coffees in the future.

Geisha is one of the most prized varieties of coffee due to its absolutely exceptional potential for quality, and particularly intense, even perfumed florality, sweetness, and clarity of flavor. Geisha is an Ethiopian heirloom variety, having been first identified in the 1930s in the forests of Gori Gesha. The variety first attracted global attention in 2005, when the Peterson family of Hacienda La Esmeralda in Boquete, Panama entered a lot of geisha grown on their estate into the Best of Panama competition, and won. Ever since, geisha has come to enjoy the status of the most lauded variety of coffee in commercial cultivation, and is heavily represented among winning lots in Cup of Excellence competitions annually.

All coffee is sold whole-bean to reduce oxidation, and increase the longevity of volatile organic compounds.