Mario Mejia is a 25 year old agronomist and fourth generation coffee grower. His farm, Finca El Jardin, consists of 32 hectares of land, sits at an elevation of 1650 MASL and boasts around 100,000 coffee trees. Combining inherited passion with his profession as an agronomist, he has transformed coffee production into a process of scientific endeavor.

At only 26 years, he took the mantle of Fince El Jardin from his father and has managed the farm flawlessly ever since. He began the Specialty Program in his region in January 2019 and introduces producers in his area to specialty coffee. In 2023 he built his own wet-mill at the farm and started offering the service to producers in the program.

For this washed gesha, the coffee is handpicked and selected before being depulped that same afternoon. The coffee is then fermented for around 50-70 hours, washed, then laid to dry in African beds. Depending on the weather, this can take anywhere from 15 and 30 days.