HORS CATEGORIE COLLECTION #6 | FINCA LA TERRAZA | FERMENTED HONEY GESHA

Country: Colombia
Region: Vereda Las Gulas, Southern Huila
Farm: Finca la Terraza, Famila Lasso Guevera
Varietal: Gesha 
Altitude: 1900 - 2000 masl
Harvest: November 2024
Kilos Available: 30kgs in 200g jars
Process: Fermented Honey

About this coffee - 200gram jars ~ AVAILABLE EARLY JULY 2025

As lauded as southern Huila is with roasters all over the world, a true gesha separation from this part of Colombia is still exceedingly rare. This microlot comes from La Terraza, a high elevation family farm a few kilometers south of La Plata. Although it’s depulped and fermented like a washed coffee, the parchment spends the entire process, drying included, encased in its own sticky mucilage, which the producers are careful not to disturb, giving the final cup a delicate but distinct cake-like sweetness, alongside the subtle powdery florals that Panama geshas are known for.   

Terraza is the name for the farm owned and managed by Juliana Guevara and Wbeimar Lasso, the duo behind the processor group Terra Coffee. The farm is very passionately run (with a delightful and educational Instagram account no less, @Fincalaterraza). Finca La Terraza resembles countless farms in this part of Colombia, being only a few hectares in size and in a very specific microclimate that encourages coffee trees to fruit nearly the full calendar year—requiring constant monitoring and harvesting in small quantities.

The gesha selected for this microlot was carefully hand-picked and sorted for ripeness and consistency beyond the typical high standards of the farm, allowing only for top quality cherry and highest sugar levels to enter the lot.  

Unlike honey processing as we know it, this coffee was depulped and then fermented in plastic tanks for 48 hours. When complete, the mucilage was broken down but not fully, and it was not rinsed or scrubbed away from the parchment like a washed coffee would have it. Instead, the parchment, and all its fermented mucilage, were moved together to the family’s solar drier, where it was spread in a very thin layer to avoid any contamination from fungus, mold, or bacteria (at this point the mucilage is so voluminous, wet, and warm, that the risk is high and needs to be avoided with precise technique). After the first 5 days of drying the mucilage coffee has shed much of its outer moisture and can then be safely piled much thicker; slowing the drying and allowing for a much longer period of evaporation and moisture equilibration. The total drying time is 25 days.  

Once complete, the whole lot is moved into a storage facility. From there, the Terraza team withdraws a sample, which is allowed to rest for 15-20 days before roasting and cupping, to help the coffee shed some of its edgy flavors