TASTING NOTES Aromas of Mango, grapefruit and jasmine. A cup more reminiscant of fruit juice than coffee, with a citrusy acidity and flavors of kiwi and pineapple. Background A selection of rare varieties from two new farms operated by ChocoVilcamundo in Loja, Ecuador. Yellow Geisha Variety from El Dorado Coffee Farm and Typica Mejorado from Finca La Noria. ChocoVilcaMundo (CVM) is an Ecuadorian agricultural company owned by Bernard Uhe and his coffee-growing family from Colombia. The management of the El Dorado and La Noria coffee farms is undertaken by the CVM family, which boasts generations of coffee growers from the province of Ibague, Colombia. In collaboration with Ecuadorians who are well-acquainted with the local terrain, they cultivate high-elevation, award-winning Arabica coffee in the Ecuadorian Andes. Planting of the farms began in 2017. El Dorado farm sits at 1700-1900m and La Noria farm starts at 2000m and goes up to an incredible 2265m In its inaugural year, the El Dorado Farm's Geisha harvest secured the 13th place in the 2021 Cup of Excellence, with a score of 88.52. The farm's Geisha achieved 4th place in the 2022 Cup of Excellence, with a score of 89.10. Additionally, the farm's Geisha took 6th place in the 2022 Ecuador Golden Cup with a score of 90.10, and the farm's Geisha secured 3rd place in the 2023 Ecuador Golden Cup, with a score of 89.75. The El Dorado Farm cultivates four varieties of coffee: Geisha, Wush Wush, Yellow Geisha, SL28, and is in the process of planting a fifth variety, Sidra. La Noria Farm grows Geisha, Yellow Geisha, SL28, and Typica Mejorado The superior quality of our coffee is attributed to the high elevation, fertile soil, mineral-rich mountain water, nutrient-dense shade trees, 12 hours of sunlight throughout the year, and the application of neem and worm tea on the plants. These factors collectively enhance the vitality of the coffee plant and beans, resulting in a deliciously healthy cup of coffee. Yellow Geisha A selection from the famed Geisha T.2722/Gesha variety. Occassionally mutant plants that produce yellow fruits rather than red when ripe are discovered on farms. Yellow Geisha in an example of this, a yellow fruited tree found on a farm in Colombia. Seeds of this variety were brought to El Dorado farm in 2017 and planted at 1750-1850m. From the very few Yellow Geisha examples we have tried, we find this variety to lean more towards tropical fruit flavors than the floral notes common to red fruited geisha plants. 'Typica' Mejorado This coffee comes from a variety developed in Ecuador by NESTLE called 'Typica Mejorado' meaning 'Improved Typica'. This coffee presents a cup profile unlike any Typica though. An exhilarating, sweet, geisha-like experience! The amazing fragrance hints that this is no ordinary Typica-variety coffee. Recent genetic testing has shown that there is actually no Typica lineage in this coffee at all (despite the name). Genetic Fingerprinting shows it to be part of the 'Ethiopian Legacy' group that includes many of the varieties growing in Yirgacheffe and Guji, Ethiopia; along with East African selections like SL34 and K7. Because of its common sounding name this variety is often over looked compared to the much trendier hybrid in Ecuador called Sidra. But we consistently find the Typica Mejorado variety to be even more impressive on the cupping table, especially from high altitude farms like La Noria.
