CGLE 17 Natural

Potosí CGLE17

The CGLE17 varietal is a hybrid cultivar iterated and honed by the Café Granja team over the past decade. The aim was to cross the Geisha varietal with Caturra, maintaining a degree of disease resistance and high yield potential, while gaining the high quality and distinct aromatic character of Geisha. The initial selections and crossings were made in 2011, with the first trees from this work eventually planted in 2014. This ‘F1’ hybrid is often slightly unstable, so further selections were made over subsequent generations, mainly searching for physical qualities of the trees, yields, resistance etc. In 2017, the final selection was crossed back with Geisha from Cerro Azul and planted at Potosí, completing the process. Delicate florals, distinct from the character of Geisha; heavier, almost spicy in their expression. A deep sweetness, reflective of Geisha’s roots in Ethiopia and Caturra’s in Bourbon. We were lucky enough to taste samples from the small harvests of CGLE that followed, and purchased from the first exported harvest several years ago.

When Rigoberto returned to Granja, he brought back not only experience, but Panamanian Geisha seeds. These seeds were the foundation for the next stage of growth, beginning to chase distinct flavour profiles and the super high end specialty market. The experience of bringing a Panamanian varietal to Colombia was pivotal to Granja in their endeavour to adapt more exotic varietals to the Colombian soil, showcasing a wide view of the Cauca Valley terroir.

They have also begun to experiment with unique processing, using open and closed tank fermentations to create incredible control over fermentation, for both their washed and natural coffees. They also use mechanical drying extensively, allowing very tight control over length and degree of drying. This type of fermentation results in very low water usage, compared especially to traditional washed processing. This is another of Granja’s core values, focussing on sustainability. They have also worked very hard on maintaining local floral and fauna, using waste products from the farm to fire their mechanical driers, and switching to organic farming methods.