MIKAVA

Finca Mikava is a farm in Risaralda, in the heart of Colombia's coffee country, built around precision and experimentation rather than volume. The family behind it works small, carefully managed lots and grows rare varieties like Gesha, controlling every stage from picking through fermentation to drying. That hands on, quality first way of farming is what gives its Gesha such a bright, almost candy like fruit character, and it has quietly earned the farm a strong following among people who seek out the finest Colombian coffees.

Geisha, also spelled Gesha, traces its roots to the forests of southwestern Ethiopia, where the original seed was collected in the middle of the twentieth century before travelling through research collections in Central America. For decades it was little more than a curiosity, until growers working at high altitude discovered how extraordinary it could taste. At its best it is unmistakable, with intense florality, a delicate tea like quality, bright citrus, and tropical fruit. The plants are slender and shy to yield and offer little disease resistance, so Geisha is demanding to grow and slow to crop, which is exactly why truly great examples stay rare and so highly prized.

Carbonic maceration is an experimental method borrowed from winemaking, where whole grapes are fermented in a sealed, oxygen free tank. In coffee, whole ripe cherries are placed in a sealed vessel flushed with carbon dioxide, so fermentation begins inside the intact fruit before any pulping, washing, or drying takes place. That carbon dioxide atmosphere is the heart of the technique, changing the way sugars and acids develop and letting the producer steer the flavours with real precision. It is slow, demanding, and easy to get wrong, but when it comes together it pushes a coffee towards vivid, juicy, wine like fruit that can be strikingly intense.