Our first of two coffees from Synthia Veronica Castañeda sourced through importer Que Onda, and we've started with this beautifully elegant washed Gesha. This is the first time we've had a coffee from the Cusco region in the South East of Peru. The region is famous for being the capital of the Inca empire and the oldest continuously inhabited city in the western hemisphere.

Synthia is an anthropologist and took over her family farm that she'd grown up on with a clear focus to establishing relationships for exporting independently in the speciality market place. That started with partners in Japan and then with Que Onda in the UK.

Synthia is determined to bring awareness to the role that indigenous women play in every aspect of coffee production as well as working towards a sustainable future for children of the community to access education and become agents of positive change for their communities. You can read more from Synthia and her hopes and dreams in this letter.

We reached out to Evie from Que Onda for some details on the processing of this Gesha lot and this detailed response deserves not to be summarised:

After selective harvesting, the coffee cherries were pulped. The seeds, still covered in mucilage, were placed in bags and air-tight tanks for 72 hours to undergo dry fermentation.

The conditions maintained during fermentation included a temperature range between 13 to 18°C and a pH level that fostered the optimal growth of microbes, which was critical for the fermentation process. The control over the fermentation process involved physicochemical measurements, specifically the pH and Brix levels of the coffee mucilage.

To ensure the sensory and quality of the coffee, the washing process was carried out in three phases with sufficient water, tailored to the type of fermentation and volume of coffee processed. Each phase involved stirring the coffee mass, removing impurities, and draining away the rinses.

The drying process occurred in environments free from smoke, emissions, odours, and animals. The beans were spread in layers of 2 to 3 cm (accounting for 15 to 20 kg of wet parchment coffee per square metre). Initially, the batches were dried in the sun for two to three days, after which they were transferred to African beds under shade for a 20-day drying period.