San Vicente Yogondoy - Geisha

COMMUNITY: San Vicente Yogondoy

LOCATION: Miahuatlan, Oaxaca, Mexico

ALTITUDE: 1500-1700 MASL

VARIETY: Gesha

PROCESS: Washed

Tasting Notes: Nectarine, Oolong, Pear, Jasmine

San Vicente Yogondoy Geisha comes from the coffee of six producers from the Mexican Sierra Sur: Rigoberto, Samara, Oscar, Sanson, and Pompilio. They all live in the community of San Vicente Yogondoy.

Geisha is a coffee variety that finds its roots in Ethiopia, but moved into a future of global fame in Panama. Named after its ancestral origin in Ethiopia, Geisha typically boasts a floral, delicate, but deeply complex and intense flavor profile.

San Vicente Yogondoy is a lush, densely forested community located in the Sierra Sur region of Oaxaca, within the district of Pochutla. Coffee grows on steep slopes under a thick canopy of native shade. These slopes face the Pacific Ocean to the south and experience distinct rainy and dry seasons, along with cooling Pacific breezes.

Yogondoy stands out for its high level of plant diversity on coffee farms compared to other coffee-growing regions. Local farmers use native shade trees such as Cuachepil, Cuil, and avocado. These trees offer multiple benefits beyond shade, including food, ornamentation, medicine, construction materials, and water collection. For example, the Cuil tree provides leaf litter that enriches the soil with natural fertilizer.

The farms of these six producers typically maintain a distance of two meters between rows and 1.5 meters between seedlings. Between each row, they plant species that help separate the rows and promote healthy spacing for the coffee trees. Yogondoy is one of the few communities where both yield and quality have consistently improved year after year. The producers have invested heavily in their farms over the past eight years, now achieving yields of 1000 to 2000 kilograms per hectare of dry parchment. This is nearly double the average yield found in many other Mexican coffee-growing areas.

Fun fact: “Geisha” and “Gesha” refer to the same celebrated coffee variety; the spelling often varies by region, with “Geisha” commonly used throughout Latin America, and "Gesha" to be descriptive of the Gori Gesha forest and its hereditary varieties. We hope you enjoy trying it!