Panama Geisha Pour-Over Brewing Data and Guide

Pour-over Butterfly Coffee

15g of coffee grounds, medium grind (Fuji ghost-tooth grinder #4), V60 dripper, water at 88-89°C. First pour 30g of water for a 27-second bloom, then pour to 105g and stop. Wait until the water level in the coffee bed drops halfway, then continue pouring slowly until reaching 225g. Discard the tail end. Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, extraction time 2:00.

The Origins of Butterfly Coffee

In the Boquete region there is a bean of exceptional value with a beautiful name — Butterfly Coffee. It carries 40% quality Geisha heritage and is composed of three varieties: Geisha, Caturra, and Catuai. It is grown in the Baru Volcano area of Boquete at 1600 meters, and the processing plant gives it a refined washed treatment. Panama's unique microclimate brings abundant rainfall and wide day-night temperature swings, and together with the region's distinctive volcanic soil and careful harvesting and processing, the coffee excels on body, acidity, and florals.

Exceptional Value

What is even more surprising is that, on top of its excellent quality, its very approachable price makes it exceptional value. Its special feature is that it combines three varieties, 40% of them Geisha, which gives it a distinctly Geisha character. Research shows that, for historical reasons, when the estate was chasing yield in earlier days, the early Geisha plants were mixed in with Caturra and Catuai trees. To make harvesting easier, the farmers did not reclassify them and processed all three varieties together. Later, once Geisha became famous and prices soared, the processing plant began applying a refined washed process to these beans.

Washed Processing Method

Washing takes many forms today, but generally the cherries are harvested, floating beans are skimmed off, and the pulp is removed. The beans are then soaked in fermentation tanks, where enzymes in the water soften the mucilage on the parchment and natural yeasts break down the sugars in it — this is fermentation. Once it is complete, the beans are moved to drying patios to sun-dry, turned constantly for even drying. Finally they are stored in parchment in the warehouse until a green bean buyer places an order, at which point they are dehulled and bagged. Coffee processed this way has a clean cup, emphasizing bright, lively fruit acidity along with clear fruit flavors and floral notes.

Flavor Profile

So you can imagine that, with Butterfly Coffee's varietal strength plus refined processing, a medium-light roast completes the picture. You will surely appreciate this Butterfly Coffee for its Geisha florals, Southeast Asian fruit, and berry flavors, its honey sweetness and smoothness, and its very persistent aroma and aftertaste.

Cupping Notes

Fragrance (Dry Aroma): Jasmine, citrus, tea notes, honey

Aroma (Wet Aroma): Berries, floral notes, buttery notes, vanilla, citrus

Flavor: Juicy sweetness, refined non-stimulating acidity, excellent clarity, bergamot, honey, citrus, spices, floral notes, berries, tea notes, cherry, a delicate aftertaste, persistent aroma, and the classic Hacienda La Esmeralda Geisha flavor.

Taste Description: Jasmine florals, citrus, tea notes, honey, berries, vanilla, bright acidity. Butterfly Coffee, containing Geisha varieties, is an exceptionally high-value specialty coffee bean.

Product Information

Manufacturer: Coffee Workshop
Shelf Life: 90 days
Net Weight: 227g
Packaging: Bulk coffee beans
Roast Level: Roasted coffee beans
Brand: Coffee Workshop
Series: FrontStreet Coffee Roasting
Sugar Content: Sugar-free
Origin: Panama
Roast Degree: Medium roast

Boquete Region

Panama's Boquete region lies in Chiriquí province, bordering Costa Rica, and is famous as the origin of Panama's renowned Geisha coffee, known worldwide for high-quality Arabica. The Tedman & MacIntyre Estate, in the mountains of Boquete at 4000 feet, descends from two of Panama's earliest coffee families — the Tedman family and the MacIntyre family.

Coffee Specifications

Country: Panama

Grade: SHB (Strictly Hard Bean)

Region: Boquete

Roast Level: Medium roast

Processing Method: Washed

Varieties: Caturra, Catuai, Geisha

Boquete's Premium Coffee Heritage

Panama coffee is famous for Hacienda La Esmeralda's Geisha, and the region where that estate sits is renowned in its own right — Boquete, in Chiriquí province. Boquete is a town near the Panama-Costa Rica border, close to the famous Baru Volcano. With its beautiful scenery, fertile soil, and climate built for quality coffee, Boquete is ideal for cultivation.

Within Boquete there are many excellent estates. Besides the famous Hacienda La Esmeralda, there are also renowned estates such as Elida Estate and Kotowa Estate, all producing premium specialty coffee. Part of the credit goes to Boquete's superior ecology and the fertile volcanic ash soil around Baru Volcano. Another important factor is the microclimate of the Boquete highlands — a unique resource for Boquete's specialty coffee. Panama's east-to-west geography causes cold air to converge above 6500 feet along the central mountain range, creating multiple microclimates across the area, with temperatures and rainfall extremely well suited to plant growth. Coffee trees here simply thrive.

In an environment as blessed as Boquete, La Esmeralda's Geisha is naturally not the only coffee king with exceptional flavor, quality, and value. But drinking Geisha every day would still be a luxury — and even without financial pressure, eating delicacies like shark fin and bear paw daily would not be right either. The same holds for coffee: exploring more widely brings more enjoyment from every cup.

Panama is a Central American country, bordering Costa Rica to the west and Colombia to the east. Anyone familiar with single-origin coffee knows that Panama is famous in the coffee world for Hacienda La Esmeralda's Geisha. It is a country that pursues excellence in coffee and delivers it.

Flavor Profile

Tea notes, honey, berries, the classic Hacienda La Esmeralda Geisha taste.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Butterfly Coffee is one of the smartest ways to taste Geisha character at a fraction of the price, and FrontStreet Coffee offers a few more ways into the same family. The most direct is FrontStreet Coffee's Boquete Geisha, an estate-level introduction grown at 1600 meters on the volcanic ash soil of the Boquete mountains, where cloud and mist hang over the ridges and the nights run cool; it pours out jasmine florals, green tea, honey, citrus, and orange. Above it sit the Hacienda La Esmeralda labels — the Red Label (Esmeralda Special), picked from single plots at 1600-1800 meters and cupped above 90 points in individually numbered lots, and the Green Label (Private Collection), which blends several plots to express the estate's signature high-altitude Geisha character at a more accessible price.

If you want a fruitier, blended route, FrontStreet Coffee's Glana Gesha from Ethiopia is a single-variety estate coffee grown in the Genlana area where Kochere and Gedeb meet; hand-picked whole ripe cherries are dried on raised beds for 14-20 days, and a medium-light roast brings out bright citrus acidity, elegant ginger-flower aroma, ripe-fruit sweetness, and a fine, silky texture with the variety's signature refined finish. For a Geisha-based blend that works in almost any brewer, FrontStreet Coffee's Strawberry Candy pairs a Costa Rican honey process with Panama Geisha and can be made as a pour-over, in a moka pot, on a home machine, or as a cold brew.

To brew Geisha, FrontStreet Coffee grinds to about 78% pass-through on a China-standard #20 sieve, roughly fine-sugar size, and uses 91°C water with 15g in a small Hario V60 at a 1:16 ratio, pouring in three stages: 30g for a 30-second bloom, then a thin circling stream to 125g, a pause until the bed drops halfway, then up to 225g for a total of about 2:10-2:20.