Ronald Pivaral Los Manantiales - Red Gesha Washed Double Fermentation

Ronald Pivaral Los Manantiales, Guatemala Nuevo Oriente Jutiapa, Red Gesha, SHB, Washed Double Fermentation, 2023

Blackcurrants | Starfruits | Muscat | White Flowers

We are often more familiar with Guatemala coffee regions like Huehuetenango or Antigua but few have heard of Jutiapa department. Located at the southeastern end of the Guatemala, it borders El Salvador and the Pacific Ocean. Nuevo Oriente - literally the new east - is the eastern most coffee growing region in Guatemala, and is one of seven focus regions of ANACAFE (Asociación Nacional del Café). Rainy and cloudy, fog sets in in the early afternoon. Nuevo Oriente is located on a former volcanic range, blessed with rich volcanic soils but with a mixture of clay. While the clay slows down plant growth, the metamorphic rocks are balanced in minerals. This makes for lesser coffee cherries but richer in flavour.

Coffee cultivation in Nuevo Oriente is a relatively recent affair, having started only about 70 years ago. What used to be a poor and rural region in the 1950s has now become one of the most vibrant and productive coffee regions. Dominated by smallholders, the good coffees produced over the decades gradually brought interest and fame. Coffee farm land is expanding there, with the conversion of other agricultural cultivation to coffee as farms see their coffee neigbours doing well. Today, each family process their own coffee independently, kicking up a vibrant scene of experimentation and product differentiation, and constantly renewing market's interest in their coffees.

With a relatively short history, Adolfo Pivaral bought the farm in 1997 and named it Los Manantiales, meaning 'The Springs' in Spanish. It is hidden between Like all farms, it started with traditional varieties processed using traditional methods, while gradually moving to exotic varieties and innovative processes. There is a small team of 10 staff, scaling up with 50 seasonal staff during harvest. Today Adolfo Pivaral has retired and his son Ronald Pivaral manages the farm. On his farm, Ronald Pivaral uses mainly manure and lime as fertilizers. Coffee harvest was January to April of 2023. 

This coffee is classed as Strictly Hard Bean (SHB) which indicates it is grown at 1,200m and above. In fact, this coffee grows at 1,730 - 2,000m, on the 85 ha farm under the shade of oak, cypress, pine and avocado, adding another layer of biodiversity to the growing environment of this beautiful coffee, and further slowing the growth of the cherries to promote flavour accumulation. The falling leaves of the shade trees add more nutrients to replenish the soils of the coffee. This coffee is double-fermented, in which there is an additional day of keeping the coffee cherries in room temperature before the usual processing steps. Also known as 'pre-ferment', it often brings positive results on the cupping table and is flavoured by farmers for their best coffees. This step is also observed in Colombia farms. This is entirely different from the Kenyan process of double washing - confusingly also called double fermentation - which involves soaking already fermented parchment coffee in water again. 

Roast Level
This geisha is high in moisture and density, but roasts surprisingly gently. We have kept the time after first crack within 1 min and ending it at a lower temperature such that delicate notes are preserved beautifully. However, this is not a speedy roast as we believe a coffee with a lingering afterflavour is a more ideal cup. 


Brew Flavour
The dry fragrance is floral with hints of citrus notes. Beyond this, the brewed flavour is complex but nuanced: sweet with yellow fruits like starfruits and citron, small fruits like blackcurrants and muscat grapes, and white and yellow flowers like jasmine. There are occasional hints of banana that is just ripening and even honey jackfruits. There is complex acidity - tartaric, citric, malic, on a body that is thicker than a usual washed coffee. The mouthfeel is impressive - silky, buttery and fluffy, leaving a clean afternote with elegant lingering notes of citrus fruits, without any burning acidity at the tongue. A cooler temperature elevates the profile, adding to its smoothness and sweetness. The nuanced complexity on a fluffy mouthfeel confuses one that it is in fact a washed coffee. One is led to believe that there is some lactic fermentation in the first part of the double fermentation process.

This is our brew recipe, with origami brewer on a kalita paper, at 16g @ 775 μm to 250ml of 87°C water.

0th sec - Add 35g of water
30th - 120th sec - Add 85g of water to 120g
130th - 170th sec - Add 130g of water to 250g


Savouring our world in a cup!
Enjoy!