Marleny Imbachi’s Washed Gesha | Colombia

Name: Marleny Imbachi’s Washed Gesha | Colombia
Brand: PS Coffee
Price: 18.0 CAD
Availability: OutOfStock

$18.00 CAD

Size

Grind

Description

Washed Gesha¹
La Torre, Kennedy, San Agustin, Huila, Colombia²

Marleny Imbachi is a coffee producer of great respect and we're delighted to share her first harvest of Gesha. She and her husband Augusto Ortega are lifelong coffee producers, founding members of the Monkaaba group, and veritable pillars in the San Agustin coffee-growing community.

For smallholders, investing in their farms by replacing old, lower-quality varieties with those with more quality potential, such as Gesha requires a great deal of work, risk and attention. It comes with a slow payoff as Gesha typically produces its first seeds after only three years and its first real harvest of any consequence will take up to four.

However, if there are any growers who are able to manage such delicate varieties it would be Augusto and Marleny. Traditional knowledge states that Gesha trees will produce under one pound of cherry per tree, this lot of only 1400 trees managed to produce around two pounds per tree. We first tried her Gesha in January on our origin trip to Colombia and it is just as incredible then as it is now. We find a full-bodied cup that's super creamy with notes of white peach, floral and raspberry.

¹ Processing & Varietal

About Washed Gesha
Marleny and Augusto planted their first Gesha lots around four years ago, seeing the growing popularity and potential for profit in these highly cherished plants.

As smallholder producers continue to seek ways to increase their profits, there’s been an increasing instance of exotic varieties in San Agustin and across Huila. Referred to locally as varietales, the lure of the potential for high prices attracts the attention of many, but many smallholders are not aware of the work and attention they require.

  Very often Gesha is planted by smallholders with the belief that they will quickly produce an abundant harvest to be purchased at higher prices. However, it takes commitment and hard work with a slow pay off as these varieties typically produce their first seeds after only three years and their first real harvest of any consequence will take up to four.

  This lot in particular represents exactly that - four years after planting, this was Marleny’s first real harvest of her Gesha and it reflects her first harvest of any consequence. However, if there are any growers who are able to manage such delicate varieties it would be Augusto and Marleny. Augusto, a judicious producer with nearly 40 years of experience, has been working diligently to find the balance between a healthy production and a quality that allows for their family to sustain themselves as specialty coffee growers.   This success is evidenced in the sheer productivity of their farms, including this lot – where traditional knowledge states that Gesha trees will produce under one pound of cherry per tree, this lot of only 1400 trees managed to produce around two pounds per tree. The result is a sizable micro lot of high quality that makes financial sense to produce, and achieves the goal set out in planting it.

² Region of Origin

La Torre Farm, Kennedy, San Agustín, Huila, Colombia
Location: Kennedy, San Agustin, Huila
Altitude: 1650masl
Farm size: 2 hectares

Coffee production has come to be a dominant agricultural product in Colombia and Huila province is now the largest coffee-producing zone. In San Agustin alone, 6000 of these producers dot the picturesque mountains. Driving through winding dirt roads draped in cloud, one can spot the deep dark green of coffee trees growing up the steep inclines - Caturras, Colombias, Castillos; Typicas and Pink Bourbons.

We Support

This

Bringing our clients closer to the people who grow and harvest their coffee, with the aim of cultivating long-term relationships that can offer consistency and reliability for all parties in the coffee value stream.

Not That

Being a part of the prevailing coffee buying system whose status quo seeks to extract wealth while keeping the growers themselves in the dark.

Meet the Producer Who Made This Coffee

Marleny Imbachi

Marleny is a lifelong coffee producer, one of the founding members of Monkaaba, and someone that we deeply respect. She welcomed us into her home during our trip to San Agustin in January of 2023, taking great care of us as she does with other members of the San Agustin coffee-growing community.

After a hard youth growing up as one of nine siblings raised by a single mother, Marleny moved to Bogatá in search of work. She met her husband Augusto Ortega at age 19 which led her down the path toward coffee. The two of them worked side by side on the farm but had little choice but to sell their coffees in the local market for whatever price was offered. It wasn’t until 2015 that Marleny achieved selling a micro lot under her own name, but even then she felt separated from her final clients, unaware of how the coffee was received or if she could count on their support going forward.

For Marleny, specialty coffee not only provides recognition for coffee producers monetarily but also an opportunity to build long-term and durable relationships that can grant autonomy and agency. Her involvement and leadership in Monkaaba have been key in encouraging other producers to pursue specialty and work with our sourcing partner Semilla. By connecting with Semilla, these producers are building long-term and durable relationships and moving away from the extractive coffee buying system that they have mostly known.

We feel incredibly privileged to be able to work with and purchase from both Marleny and Augusto. They are a source of great wisdom and insight for the whole Monkaaba team, while also serving as a motivating force for their peers and fellow coffee producers.

“We’re convinced now more than ever that working with specialty coffee is our motor and passion to find recognition for our labour. This motivates us to support other people so that they can reach their dreams. We’ve decided to support a real change in the means of commercializing coffee through the great family of Monkaaba.”

- Marleny Imbachi

Learn More About Monkaaba

FAQ's

WHO MAKES P.S. COFFEE?

The P.S. Coffee menu is made possible by grower communities and smallholder farmers in Rwanda, Honduras, Colombia and Guatemala. Through our sourcing sister-company Semilla, we hold long-term and consensus based partnerships with producers that have had zero or limited access to or knowledge of the specialty market.

These skilled and passionate professionals are redefining coffee production within their growing regions that have historically been underserved and overlooked despite being within well-respected coffee producing countries. Through community support networks, access to knowledge and capital and investment into physical and intellectual infrastracture, they are transitioning towards autonomy and away from the exploitative model they’ve mostly always known.

These are the people and communities you’ll meet through P.S. — and build connections with as we continue to support and purchase from them year after year.

Meet the P.S. Producer Network

HOW IS P.S. COFFEE SOURCED?

All of the coffee on the P.S. menu is exclusively sourced with Semilla Coffee through the following principles:

Durable Relationships

All of Semilla’s relationships are formed with specific communities in underserved coffee growing regions within well-respected coffee production countries. Semilla identifies producer groups that have zero or limited access to or knowledge of the specialty market and takes on the requisite risk that comes with their transition into becoming specialty coffee producers with dedicated buyers across North America. Semilla’s commitment is to work only within the bounds of these groups, seeking to grow with them in pursuit of purchasing all of their production, year after year.

Best Prices, Defined by Producers

All coffees purchased by Semilla are purchased at the best locally available price. This is determined via communication with and understanding of local market dynamics, and prices are arrived upon via a consensus model in which the coffee growers and Semilla agree democratically on the best prices for all involved.

Traceability and Transparency

Semilla’s commitment is to work with complete commitment to traceability and transparency along the value chain. This means full transparency of prices paid to the farmer (farmgate) as well as prices paid at port (FOB). Additionally, Semilla offers in depth information and context for each coffee, the producers who grew it, and the condition within which they work with each purchase.

Quality

Semilla exclusively works in the specialty coffee realm, meaning all of the coffees purchase are above the quality levels offered by conventional commodity or Fair Trade and Organic buyers. Quality is determined in reference to the Specialty Coffee Association and Coffee Quality Institute’s grading standards, with all coffees source for P.S. achieving a minimum of 85 points out of a possible 100.

DO YOU HAVE THIRD-PARTY SUSTAINABILITY CERTIFICATION?

We are skeptic of most fair trade/organic/sustainability certifications. They often leave the financial burden on coffee producers who are, and let's be honest, not polluting anywhere near us folks in the Global North are.

Instead of focusing on these certification, we work towards a value system that uplifts everyone along the coffee supply chain. Through Semilla, our sourcing sister-company, we can connect directly with our coffee producer network to bring to life their ideas that come from, and work for, them towards a more sustainable, equitable value chain.

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