Las Alasitas Gesha (168 hours)
Complex and lifted, with crisp greengage plum, golden kiwi and passionfruit acidity. Bergamot and orange blossom florals.
This 120kg Gesha micro-lot comes from Las Alasitas, a small farm owned by Pedro Rodríguez. Over the last decade, Rodríguez has worked tirelessly to build the production of, and market for, Bolivian specialty coffee, helping hundreds of local farmers recognise and realise the potential of their land and crops.
Las Alasitas is located in the colony of Bolinda, which lies in a lush, steep mountain valley around 10 kilometres outside of the town of Caranavi. The colony of Bolinda was founded 52 years ago and was once known as ‘Bolivia Linda’ or ‘Beautiful Bolivia’. Over the years this name was shortened to Bolinda, and it is now one of the larger settlements in the area.
Las Alasitas was planted in 2014 and is 20.6 hectares in size. The farm sits at about 1,642 metres above sea level and has incredible views over the Los Rodríguez farms and mountains beyond. The views are so special that the family have built a house at the top of the farm called La Casita, to welcome friends and guests, who come to enjoy the farm at sunset and sunrise, coffee in hand.
The high elevation of Las Alasistas helps to ensure a slow maturation of the cherry because of the stable night-time temperature and mild day temperatures. The slow maturation leads to an increased concentration of sugars in the cherry and bean, which in turn helps to produce a sweeter cup of coffee.
Pedro and his family have invested a lot of time and effort into trying to make each of their plantations a ‘model’ farm that other producers in the area can learn from. That’s why the family have trialled several varieties on this farm, including Gesha, San Bernardo, Caturra and Java. This particular lot is 100% Gesha – a variety renowned for its exceptional cup quality and distinct flavour profile.
Gesha seeds were originally collected from Ethiopian coffee forests in the 1930s. They were initially kept and studied at the Tanzania Coffee Research Institute, and subsequently at Costa Rica’s Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (known as CATIE). Both institutes recognised the variety’s resistance to coffee leaf rust, yet it was not propagated thoroughly due to the tree’s brittle branches. Luckily, in the 1960s, the variety was distributed to farmers in Panama by Francisco “Pachi” Serracin. Gesha trees made their way to the country’s Boquete region, where they grew at high elevations without attracting much attention from local farmers. It wasn’t until the Peterson family, in Boquete’s Hacienda La Esmeralda, noticed a number of trees that had not been affected by a recent bout of leaf rust on a newly-acquired plot of land, and decided to separate them. The rest is history: the lot produced by these trees went on to win the Best of Panama competition in 2004, as its delicate, floral aroma and distinct flavour profile pushed the boundaries of what coffee could taste like.
All of the Rodríguez family’s learnings have also been shared with local producers through a training program that the family has developed called ‘Sol de la Mañana.’ Head here to learn more about this wonderful program, and here to learn more about the incredible work the Rodríguez family and Agricafe are doing in Bolivia.
HOW THIS COFFEE WAS PROCESSED
At Las Alasitas, Pedro hires pickers from the Villa Rosario community to carefully handpick the coffee during the harvest. These pickers are trained to select only the very ripest cherries, and multiple passes are made through the farm throughout the harvest to ensure the coffee is picked at its prime. Selective picking is always very important and is particularly important for special micro-lots like this one, to ensure a very sweet and clean cup. The Rodríguez family has found that the very ripest (almost purple) cherries provide the best cup.
Pedro is always innovating and trialing different processing techniques and in this case the coffee was processed with a strong influence from the wine industry. After being picked and delivered to the family’s Buena Vista mill, coffee cherries were weighed, pulped and then fermented in the family’s brand new, custom-built stainless steel tanks (show in the video below) for a whopping 168 hours, of which 66 are completely anaerobic. The tanks were then opened, as it allows for the pH and temperature to be manipulated.
The coffee was then washed with fresh, clean water and placed inside one of Buena Vista’s ‘stationary box’ dryers for a total of 63 hours. These boxes are series of steel containers which use a gentle flow of warm air from below the coffee bed to dry the parchment slowly and evenly. Coffee was stirred manually every two hours to further ensure it dried at a uniform rate.
Once the coffee was dry, it was transported to La Paz where it was rested before being milled at Agricafe’s dry mill, La Luna. At this state-of-the-art mill, the coffee was first hulled and sorted using machinery, and then by a team of workers who meticulously sorted the coffee again (this time by hand) under UV and natural light. The mill is one of the cleanest and most impressive we have seen – you can read more about it here.
WHATS IN A NAME?
Alasitas means “Buy Me” in the local Aymara native language. The name comes from a festival called Alasitas, which is a festival of desires and honours the Andean god of abundance.
Starting at noon on the 24th of January every year (which also happens to be Pedro Pablo’s birthday!) Bolivia’s capital, La Paz, comes alive with a sense of promise, wishfulness and whimsy. Alasitas has its roots in pre-Colombian Aymara traditions and has evolved over the centuries to incorporate elements of Catholicism and Western consumerism. This unique event may seem strange to someone unfamiliar with this cultural event, but to locals, Alasitas is an important fixture in their calendar.
During the festival, thousands flock to La Paz to buy miniature items – cars, hours, university degrees, suitcases full of cash, potential spouses – of everything they want in the coming year. It can be something material or something that brings luck – like a chicken that will help you find love or a frog that will bring you good fortune. All miniatures are blessed by a Yatiri (a spiritual leader in Aymara culture) and offered to the Ekeko, the Andean god of abundance. Miniatures are exchanged with family and friends, in a hope that their dreams will be realised, and in turn, you will also be blessed with abundance.
Reciprocity is at the heart of the Alasitas festivals and it is for this reason that it is a fitting name for the farm. The Alasitas farm is one of the largest the Rodríguez’s own in Caranavi and was created with the vision of becoming a model farm local coffee growers could learn from, and be inspired by, thus helping them realise the vast potential of their land and crops.
