As a long-term partner of El Limonar, Guatemala and producer Rogelio Aguirre Jr - it is always an immense pleasure to be able to bring back incredibly special lots - to savour and appreciate the continuous and meticulous work that goes into the production of coffees shared with us, year on year. Rogelio graciously allowed us to purchase his first Geisha nanolot grown at El limonar several years ago. Since then, this beautiful varietal has thrived on the high slopes of El Limonar with the constant care and attention of Rogelio and his fellow growers. 

The story of El Limonar farm is one we’ve told many times over the years. The farm itself is situated in the mountainous area of Huehuetenango in the region of La Libertad, and was acquired by Rogelio Aguirre Gálvez in 1955. Back then, the farm was named El Injerto and was much larger. Later, the elder Rogelio split the farm between his two sons, with the larger portion – given to the eldest son - remaining El Injerto, and the smaller farm being named ‘El Limonar’ and passing to the younger son – Rogelio Jr’s father. Today,  Rogelio Jr, and his mother, Dona Rosa Maria Ovalle Mont run El Limonar farm.

El Limonar translates to, ‘the lemon grove’ and was named for the lemon trees spread across the farm. Geisha plants are not commonly produced in Guatemala - it was only in more recent years that Rogelio Jr decided to experiment with planting them on his farm.

Geisha or Gesha is thought to have originated in Ethiopia, and named so after a town in the western part of the country. The plant was first taken to Costa Rica, before it was then taken to Panama and it began it’s journey to infamy. In the early 2000s, at competition the plant made such an impact that it went on to break records at auction, not once, but several times over throughout the 2000s and into the 2010s.

And the rest is history.

After such success in competitions and the stir that the varietal caused on the market, producers across South and Central American were keen to grow Geisha plants.

Despite it’s many amazing qualities – to achieve success with Geisha plants isn’t so easy. Whilst they may carry some disease resistant qualities – the plants require a relative amount of care and attention in order to produce successful harvests. Geisha is not a plant that produces high yields by any means, and also bodes well in high altitudes and soils that are rich and fertile. The plant has small leaves – making the process of photosynthesis more difficult, and short roots which struggle to obtain essential nutrients from the soil.

At El Limonar however, many of the issues facing the production of Geisha are quelled due to the farm’s high elevation in the mountains of Huehuetenango – the highest range in Central America. The farm is also biodiverse growing many plants from Bourbon to Caturra, to Maragoype in amongst lemon trees. This doesn’t mean to say that production here has been smooth or easy. The farm being in a mountainous area, means that it can be difficult to monitor the entirety of the farm – making it difficult to harvest all the cherries on time. Issues with the governance of Guatemala with coffee farms being split to make way for housing developments and depleting areas of coffee pickers. The rising C price however, benefits pickers in that more money can be offered for these jobs which allows farms to pay more to attract more pickers.