Hervey & Rocio Cuellar, Washed - Colombia

For years, Hervey and Rocio Cuellar cultivated Castillo coffee for the commodity market in Colombia's Huila region. But Hervey wanted something more than simply producing raw coffee. Determined to enter the specialty market and build a direct connection with the people who drink his coffee, he began exploring new varieties and processing techniques that could unlock greater quality and value at origin.

His first step was planting Geisha. Four years ago, he convinced his brother to join the project, and together they spent months searching for quality Geisha seed stock before finally securing permission to collect cherries from an established Geisha plot near Pitalito. Yet the first harvests fell short of expectations. The variety's celebrated floral complexity and elegance were not fully expressing themselves in the cup.

Rather than abandoning the project, Hervey became obsessed with understanding why. He embarked on a long period of experimentation, testing around 30 different fermentation protocols in search of the profile he envisioned. Through patience and relentless trial and error, he eventually developed a process centred on slow, low-temperature fermentations: a 50-hour anaerobic fermentation of whole cherries followed by a further 60-hour anaerobic fermentation after pulping, before the coffee is fully washed and dried slowly on shaded raised beds above his home.

The result challenges many assumptions about extended fermentation. While long fermentations often risk producing overly alcoholic, acetic or savoury flavours, Hervey's careful control of temperature allows the coffee to retain remarkable clarity and elegance. The cup is layered with floral aromatics, vibrant fruit character and delicate herbal complexity, balanced by a sweetness and density rarely found in traditionally washed Geisha coffees.

This coffee is a reflection of the dedication that often goes unseen in specialty coffee. It represents years of learning, experimentation and perseverance from a producer unwilling to accept average results. Through precision, patience and passion, Hervey has created a Geisha that is both expressive and distinctive, a pure, vibrant and deeply complex coffee that showcases the remarkable potential of thoughtful fermentation.

• Region: Oporapa, Huila
• Country: Colombia
• Elevation: 1,700 masl
• Variety: Geisha
• Process: Dried in Clean Parchment