After the tour through the coffee plantation and another hearty lunch we got onto a van, which then got us to the town of Salento – slightly less than 100km / 2 hours away.

We made it into Salento in the late afternoon / early evening, well in time for an orientation walk around this little town with its fairly intact colonial buildings.

With Salento also part of coffee country the walk just had to finish in a little cafe for some more of that black liquid. As avid tea drinker, so far I had pretty-much stayed away from coffee on this trip – however with the gesha specialty coffee available here (which was sold to me as close enough to tea), I simply gave it a try – and ended up actually finishing a cup of coffee and enjoying that.
Gesha is a special variety of the normal Arabica coffee; its origins seem to be a bit of a mystery (at least based on my quick internet research) … anyway – the final drink in the end really is closer to a good cup of Earl or Lady Grey than to normal coffee. I guess, the Grey family teas are really a good comparison here, though there is certainly more complexity in a gesha, every sip opens some new flavors, there are also subtle changes as the drinks cools down (I liked it most in lukewarm state). I certainly would go for this coffee again – however given its specialty status (and resulting price) chances will be slim … this sort of coffee simply is too exotic for most cafes …