Intoxicating aromas of raspberry, kiwi, and honeysuckle introduce this beautifully processed gesha. In the cup, we find juicy flavors of clementine orange, cooked berries, and peach tea that are elegantly complemented by lingering floral notes on the finish.
Edgar García Ossa is a skilled coffee farmer, a member of the Divino Niño Producer Group, and a Copa Suaceña top 10 finalist for two consecutive years. While many of the individual lots that we have purchased from Edgar’s farm have been composed of variedad Colombia, this particular selection is a beautifully produced example of the highly sought-after gesha variety.
Edgar García Ossa is a father of seven and a lifelong coffee producer. His four hectare farm, El Mirador, is located near the town of Divino Niño and Don Edgar has been caring for the land that he inherited from his father for over 30 years. As a member of the Divino Niño Producer Group, an association of farming families based in Suaza, Colombia, Edgar García Ossa is one of the producers that Passenger has been purchasing coffee from on an ongoing basis since 2018.
As with all of the sourcing relationships that we refer to as Foundational Partnerships, Passenger’s aim in Divino Niño has always been to try to add value for coffee farmers by offering to pay good prices for as broad a percentage of the different types of coffees that they produce as possible, year after year. While tiny lots such as the present gesha selection tend to have no shortage of interested customers, we are equally committed to buying lower scoring, higher volume coffees from El Mirador, and other member farms, that serve as valuable components of Passenger’s Foundational Divino Niño offering, as well as the year-round Colombia selection on the menu of our sister company Necessary Coffee. With this Foundational sourcing model, we hope to ease uncertainty for the farmers that we have been incredibly fortunate to work with in this way for the past four years. We want our producer partners to feel assured that they have a fair and reliable buyer for all the coffees they produce, not merely the “cream of the crop” microlots. With that emphasized, we’re certainly here for the cream as well!
The arabica variety known as gesha came to the attention of the international specialty coffee industry when a delicate and intensely floral coffee from a now-famous estate, Hacienda la Esmeralda, bewitched a panel of international judges at the 2004 Best of Panama coffee competition and ultimately shattered previous records for the highest price ever paid for a coffee at auction. While Boquete, Panama was the place that put the gesha variety on the map, coffee producers throughout Central and South America took note of the historic prices being paid for the new variety, and many of them decided to plant gesha trees of their own.
This is the third time that Passenger has purchased a gesha selection from Edgar García Ossa. We presented the first under the name “El Mirador Gesha”, and shared it on our menu shortly before another coffee from Don Edgar’s farm was awarded 9th place in the 2020 Copa Suaceña competition (an annual showcase to identify, celebrate, and secure generous prices for the finest coffees produced by this community of producers). With another Copa Suaceña winning lot in 2021, and a series of exceptional single-variety separations in the years since, Edgar García Ossa continues to bolster his well-deserved reputation as one of the most accomplished coffee farmers of the Suaza region.