Our connection with Stefan began in 2018 during our inaugural visit to the Café Don Benjie estate. At that time, the coffee industry was at a different stage compared to today, yet Stefan was already demonstrating significant advancements in his methods for cultivating Geisha and other exotic varietals on his farm. His gracious and unassuming demeanour fostered a strong friendship from our very first encounter. Since then, we have showcased several of Stefan’s top lots, including his renowned Natural CM Geisha and Natural CM Orange Bourbon. This year, upon visiting Stefan again, we were astounded by the progress he has made as a producer and the remarkable developments at the farm since our last visit six years ago. He has invested in rotating stainless steel tanks to implement precise fermentation protocols and has transformed the kitchen into facilities for slow drying in dark rooms, a practice increasingly adopted by premium coffee producers. We conducted a blind cupping of his harvest, and one particular coffee left us intrigued and captivated. It was the Honey Geisha processed using Anaerobic Slow Dry (ASD) from Stefan’s Dark Room Series (DRS) that has remained etched in our memories since that tasting. This exclusive and limited lot, prepared specifically for Sweven, consists of 60 kg of coffee cherries sourced from the Bella Vista plot at Don Benjie. The cherries were harvested on January 19, 2024, and placed in stainless steel tanks for anaerobic fermentation until January 25, totalling six days. Following fermentation, the cherries were pulped and allowed to pre-dry outside on raised beds for six hours before being transferred to dark rooms for slow drying until February 16. This meticulous approach and unwavering attention to detail have resulted in what we can confidently declare as one of the finest coffees we have ever experienced.