Carlos Belalcazar - La Escuela

"La Escuela · Carlos Hernando Belalcazar Muñoz · Washed · Geisha · La Escuela, La Unión, Nariño

Carlos Hernando Belalcazar Muñoz is a public accountant who never left the land. His washed Geisha from La Escuela, in the village of Buenos Aires in La Unión, Nariño, scored 89.21 points, fourth in the collection.

The farm takes its name from the primary school next door, where Carlos studied. He has worked it since he was seventeen and held it for about fifteen years. After leaf rust hit in 2012 and 2013 he replanted part of it with Castillo, and three years ago he renewed roughly one hectare at 2,000 metres with Geisha, planting alternate rows of corn while the young trees grew. He calls the variety a constant learning process. It needs closer spraying, shorter fertilising cycles and clean rows, because it stresses when weeds build up, and it dehydrates faster than the varieties he grew before, so it needs good shade.

His palate came first. Close to five years working for a coffee company gave him a taste for cupping, and last year his coffee placed third in a cupping competition in Nariño. This season tested him: an intense dry spell, then a hailstorm that hit much of the crop expected for the December mitaca.

The process is built to let the genetics speak. Fermentation stops at the 48 hours Carlos says the coffee naturally calls for, in plastic tanks or cement for larger volumes, and the coffee goes straight to washing. Drying is slow and never in direct sun.

The cup is jasmine and rose with lemon and mango, the cooling freshness of winter melon tea and a caramel finish."