Honduras Gesha Natural - Star Coffees Collection Vol. 1

Chinacla, Honduras — 2024 Harvest, Star Coffees Vol. 1

This lot is grown on the Chinacla family farm run by Marysabel Caballero and Moises Herrera, producers whose Cup of Excellence pedigree extends across both their washed Catuai lots and this natural Gesha. Cup of Excellence lots have to clear a 90-point average from both a national and an international jury to earn the competition's Presidential Award — a considerably higher bar than the 80-point threshold that defines "specialty" coffee generally, and one reason a COE-winning farm's name carries real weight on a label.

Gesha is a naturally low-yielding varietal: a mature tree produces a fraction of the cherry volume of a commercial cultivar like Catuai or Bourbon, and it demands more careful picking and processing to protect its aromatics once harvested. That combination of scarcity and labor is the practical, unglamorous reason Gesha commands premium pricing across every origin that grows it, Honduras included.

For this lot, ripe cherries are picked selectively at the 2024 harvest and dried whole in the sun on raised beds — a natural process that keeps the fruit in contact with the bean throughout drying, pulling more sweetness and body into the cup than a washed process would produce from the same trees. That's also what separates this release from a washed Gesha: more fruit weight, less purely floral clarity.

What's different about this particular box isn't the farm or the process — it's the format. DABOV created the Star Coffees Collection specifically to package limited, notable lots as small, numbered, collectible releases rather than folding them into the standard single-origin lineup. This Chinacla Gesha was chosen as Volume 1, the collection's debut release.

Honey, Peach, Bergamot, Chamomile

This cup leads with aromatics rather than weight: chamomile and bergamot sit up front in a way that reads closer to a delicate herbal or black tea than to a typical coffee, peach carries the fruit through the middle, and honey rounds out a finish that's sweet without being heavy. Body is light and acidity is soft rather than sharp — the whole cup is built around clarity of aroma, which is the hallmark of a well-grown Gesha regardless of origin.

The natural process is doing real work here. Drying the whole cherry around the bean pulls more of the fruit's own sugars into the finished coffee than a washed process would, giving this lot noticeably more sweetness and body than a washed Gesha from the same region while keeping the floral top notes intact. A light roast protects that balance — anything darker would trade the chamomile and bergamot aromatics for roast character, which would defeat the point of growing Gesha in the first place.

Because the release comes in a small 2.3 oz format, it's worth treating each cup deliberately rather than brewing it on autopilot — this is a coffee that rewards a slower pour and a clean palate more than most.

Pour-Over, Brewed Slowly

Gesha this aromatic loses more than it gains from full-immersion or espresso brewing, where extraction pulls out bitterness before it pulls out florality. Pour-over is the format that actually shows off what this lot is grown for.

Pour-Over

Ratio: 1:16 (coffee to water by weight) — a touch stronger than a standard filter ratio, to carry the chamomile and bergamot notes through without thinning them out.

Grind: Medium-fine, similar to table salt.

Water temperature: 198–202°F (92–94°C).

Time: Aim for a total brew time around 2:45–3:00 with a slow, controlled pour in stages rather than one continuous stream.

AeroPress (Inverted, Light Press)

For a smaller single serving, invert the AeroPress, use a 1:15 ratio, steep 2 minutes at 195°F (90°C), then press gently and slowly — a hard, fast press pulls out more bitterness than this delicate a coffee can hide.

Grind only what you'll brew in the next sitting and reseal the box between uses; a light-roast natural Gesha loses its top aromatics to air faster than a darker or washed coffee would, and at this format size there's no reason to grind more than one cup ahead.

Did You Know

• Gesha trees yield a fraction of what commercial cultivars produce. A mature Gesha tree typically bears far less cherry per harvest than workhorse varieties like Catuai or Bourbon, and it needs more selective picking to protect its aromatics once ripe — the practical, unglamorous economics behind why the varietal costs more everywhere it's grown, Honduras included.

• This box is the debut of a numbered series. DABOV's Star Coffees Collection launched with this Chinacla Gesha as Volume 1; later volumes drew from a Nicaraguan single origin, an Ethiopian producer lot, and a Panama estate release, each repackaging one of the roasterie's more distinctive coffees into a small, collectible format rather than a standard retail bag.

• Cup of Excellence's top honor demands a 90-point average from two separate juries. A national jury first scores every entrant using the CoE cupping protocol, and only the highest scorers move on to an international jury of buyers and Q graders; only lots averaging 90 points or higher across both earn the competition's Presidential Award, the tier that gives a farm's name real market weight.

What is DABOV's Star Coffees Collection?

It's a numbered series of small-format, collectible releases built from lots DABOV considers especially distinctive — this Honduras Gesha is Volume 1. Each box is meant to be savored on its own rather than restocked like a standard bag.

How is this different from DABOV's regular Honduras Geisha?

The coffee itself — the Chinacla farm, the producers, the natural process, the flavor profile — is the same. The difference is packaging and intent: this is a 2.3 oz collectible box from the Star Coffees Collection, while the standard listing comes in larger 7 oz and 2.2 lb bags for everyday brewing.

Why is gesha coffee so expensive?

Gesha is a low-yielding, delicate variety that produces far less coffee per tree than commercial cultivars and requires more careful picking and processing to protect its aromatics. Limited lots like this one, tied to a single farm and a single harvest, push the price further still.

Do Cup of Excellence–winning farms always grow gesha?

No — Caballero and Herrera's Cup of Excellence recognition comes primarily from their washed Catuai lots. This natural Gesha is a separate planting on the same farm, and its quality reflects the same growing and processing discipline rather than a shared competition score.

How should I brew this coffee?

Pour-over is the best way to show off this lot: a 1:16 ratio, medium-fine grind, and water just under boiling (198–202°F / 92–94°C), poured slowly. A gentler AeroPress works well too for a single cup.

Is this a limited release?

Yes. It's a numbered volume within a curated collection rather than a standing catalog item, tied to a specific 2024 harvest from a single farm — once a volume sells through, DABOV doesn't reissue it under the same number.