ECUADOR - Finca Cruz Loma - Gesha
Ecuador release from Galo Morales number 2! Get pumped because this washed gesha is an early contender for bean of the year from us. It’s the sort of coffee that leaves you speechless. Upon tasting it for the first time, all of us stood in silence and staring at our cups. How could this unassuming black liquid contain an array of such vibrant colors? It starts with the family farm of Galo Morales and his wife Maria Rivera. Finca Cruz Loma has been in the Morales family for 80 years, first belonging to Galo’s grandparents. The climate at the farm is perfect for a huge variety of native flora to thrive. This terroir combines with the minimal processing, washed but with a slightly extended fermentation period of 72 hours, to create complexity that we rarely see even in the famed gesha variety.
Ha. We’re not sure where to start with this one. The aroma is familiar and leans into the gesha profile. It’s floral and sweet. But the flavors explode out of the cup with fresh and ripe fruit notes. The kind of fruits that drip down your chin because they’re so juicy. There’s big berry flavors here. Raspberry and blackberry primarily. The cup takes a tropical turn as it cools into mango/pineapple territory and somehow manages to get juicier. Despite how loud the fruit components are, you can still taste white flowers underneath through the whole experience. And this all with the backdrop of a highly intense sweetness that flips from candy to toffee. The good times here are strangely complex AND delicate. Which is a lot like life, I suppose. If life was an extraordinarily wonderful cup of coffee at least.
PRODUCER: GALO MORALES FLORES & MARIA ALEXANDRA RIVERA
VARIETY: GESHA
PROCESS: WASHED
GREEN COST: $33.79/LB (ROYAL COFFEE)
TASTING NOTES: HONEYSUCKLE, RASPBERRY, PINEAPPLE, TOFFEE
SCORE: 88
(200 grams whole bean)
Ecuador release from Galo Morales number 2! Get pumped because this washed gesha is an early contender for bean of the year from us. It’s the sort of coffee that leaves you speechless. Upon tasting it for the first time, all of us stood in silence and staring at our cups. How could this unassuming black liquid contain an array of such vibrant colors? It starts with the family farm of Galo Morales and his wife Maria Rivera. Finca Cruz Loma has been in the Morales family for 80 years, first belonging to Galo’s grandparents. The climate at the farm is perfect for a huge variety of native flora to thrive. This terroir combines with the minimal processing, washed but with a slightly extended fermentation period of 72 hours, to create complexity that we rarely see even in the famed gesha variety.
Ha. We’re not sure where to start with this one. The aroma is familiar and leans into the gesha profile. It’s floral and sweet. But the flavors explode out of the cup with fresh and ripe fruit notes. The kind of fruits that drip down your chin because they’re so juicy. There’s big berry flavors here. Raspberry and blackberry primarily. The cup takes a tropical turn as it cools into mango/pineapple territory and somehow manages to get juicier. Despite how loud the fruit components are, you can still taste white flowers underneath through the whole experience. And this all with the backdrop of a highly intense sweetness that flips from candy to toffee. The good times here are strangely complex AND delicate. Which is a lot like life, I suppose. If life was an extraordinarily wonderful cup of coffee at least.
PRODUCER: GALO MORALES FLORES & MARIA ALEXANDRA RIVERA
VARIETY: GESHA
PROCESS: WASHED
GREEN COST: $33.79/LB (ROYAL COFFEE)
TASTING NOTES: HONEYSUCKLE, RASPBERRY, PINEAPPLE, TOFFEE
SCORE: 88
(200 grams whole bean)
Ecuador release from Galo Morales number 2! Get pumped because this washed gesha is an early contender for bean of the year from us. It’s the sort of coffee that leaves you speechless. Upon tasting it for the first time, all of us stood in silence and staring at our cups. How could this unassuming black liquid contain an array of such vibrant colors? It starts with the family farm of Galo Morales and his wife Maria Rivera. Finca Cruz Loma has been in the Morales family for 80 years, first belonging to Galo’s grandparents. The climate at the farm is perfect for a huge variety of native flora to thrive. This terroir combines with the minimal processing, washed but with a slightly extended fermentation period of 72 hours, to create complexity that we rarely see even in the famed gesha variety.
Ha. We’re not sure where to start with this one. The aroma is familiar and leans into the gesha profile. It’s floral and sweet. But the flavors explode out of the cup with fresh and ripe fruit notes. The kind of fruits that drip down your chin because they’re so juicy. There’s big berry flavors here. Raspberry and blackberry primarily. The cup takes a tropical turn as it cools into mango/pineapple territory and somehow manages to get juicier. Despite how loud the fruit components are, you can still taste white flowers underneath through the whole experience. And this all with the backdrop of a highly intense sweetness that flips from candy to toffee. The good times here are strangely complex AND delicate. Which is a lot like life, I suppose. If life was an extraordinarily wonderful cup of coffee at least.
PRODUCER: GALO MORALES FLORES & MARIA ALEXANDRA RIVERA
VARIETY: GESHA
PROCESS: WASHED
GREEN COST: $33.79/LB (ROYAL COFFEE)
TASTING NOTES: HONEYSUCKLE, RASPBERRY, PINEAPPLE, TOFFEE
SCORE: 88
(200 grams whole bean)