Adela Gesha

Hands up who wants more pink bags from Coffee Collective!!

It's no doubt that our Danish friends know how to pick a good Gesha variety. This one is a first for them. It's their first year working with Adela and by the sounds of it, it was purely circumstantial that they discovered it on the cupping table.

During Coffee Collective's last visit to Peru, they left a bag of Takesi Gesha with their exporting partner, Caravela, mentioning their appreciation for its refined profile. Caravela returned the favor and sent back Adela's gesha lot as a nod to its raw quality. Blown away by what they tasted, Coffee Collective purchased what they could.

Adela Castillo has been growing coffee for 30 years, working to provide for her family. A few years ago, encouraged by her daughter Carmen, she shifted her focus to specialty coffee. With support from Caravela, she refined her processing, improving both quality and sustainability. This shift changed her perspective: “Now I see coffee differently. Specialty coffee requires dedication, but it brings recognition and a better future.”

Her farm, a small two-hectare plot in Jaén, northern Peru, sits at 1,862 meters. The operation remains a family effort—Carmen manages technical and business aspects, while Adela and her son-in-law oversee the day-to-day work. They have recently expanded their Caturra plots to include Gesha.

Processing at Adela’s farm is very intentional. Cherries are hand-picked, floated to remove defects, and depulped before undergoing anaerobic fermentation in hermetic bags for 36 to 48 hours, depending on ambient temperature. The coffee is then washed and dried on raised beds for 10 to 15 days, allowing the flavors to develop slowly and evenly.