Nav: Home > Coffee >

Flavor Characteristics of Panama Esmeralda Estate Award-Winning Varieties

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/27, Professional barista exchange - Please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style) Esmeralda Estate Geisha has 3 brands, divided by altitude: Auction Geisha (ESMERALDA SPECIAL) (Red Label), selected from altitudes above 1550 meters. Boquete Geisha (Green Label), Geisha is selected from 1500 meters. (ESMERALDA 1,500) (Blue Label), selected sea

Esmeralda Estate Geisha Brands and Classification

Esmeralda Estate Geisha has three brands, classified by altitude:

Auction Geisha (ESMERALDA SPECIAL) (Red Label) - Selected from altitudes above 1,550 meters.

Boquete Geisha (Green Label) - Geisha selected from 1,500 meters.

(ESMERALDA 1,500) (Blue Label) - Selected Geisha varieties from around 1,500 meters altitude.

Awards and Recognition

(The following are the award records of Esmeralda Estate):

Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) Annual Cupping Competition Champion

1st Place Specialty Coffee Association of America Roasters Guild Cupping Pavilion

Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) Annual Cupping Competition Second Place

2nd Place Coffee of the Year

Best of Panama Champion

1st Place "Best of Panama"

Rainforest Alliance Coffee Quality Cupping Competition Champion

1st Place Rainforest A for Quality

Brewing Instructions for Blue Label

For pour-over Blue Label: Use 15g of coffee, medium-fine grind (Fuji mountain grinder setting 3.5), V60 dripper, water temperature 91-93°C. First infusion with 30g water for 27 seconds pre-infusion, then pour to 105g and pause. Wait until the water level drops to half, then continue pouring slowly until reaching 225g total. Avoid the tail end. Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, extraction time 2:00.

Coffee Details

Panama Geisha (Hacienda La Esmeralda)

Country: Panama

Grade: Blue Label

Region: Slopes of Baru Volcano

Roast Level: Light Roast

Processing: Washed

Variety: Geisha

Estate: Esmeralda Estate

Flavor Notes: Oolong tea aroma, peach aroma, honey sweetness

Panama Esmeralda Estate Geisha Coffee Beans

Panama Geisha (Hacienda La Esmeralda)

Origin: Panama

Region: Located on the slopes of Baru Volcano, Panama's highest peak in the west

Estate: Esmeralda Estate / Hacienda La Esmeralda

Grade: Blue Label

Growing Altitude: 1,450m

Processing Method: Fine washed processing

Special Certification: Green Rainforest Alliance Certification

Roast Level: Light roast city-

What is the Panama Auction?

In 1996, during the lowest period of international coffee prices, seven coffee estates in the Boquete and Volcan regions saw the dawn of the specialty coffee era. They organized and formed the famous Panamanian Association of Special Coffees of Panama (SCAP). In 2013, the highest bid for washed Geisha in the BOP (Best of Panama) exceeded $160 per pound, while the highest bid for natural Geisha was won by a natural Geisha from Hacienda La Esmeralda at over $350 per pound.

The reason why Geisha from Esmeralda Estate (La Esmeralda) became world-famous coffee came from a coincidence. Rudolph A. Peterson, a retired Swedish-American banker, bought Esmeralda Estate in Panama to spend his later years. Unexpectedly, the coffee trees on the estate bore fruit, and he casually sent them to participate in a coffee competition. The result was instant fame, winning the national championship of the 2004 Panama Specialty Coffee Competition.

This coffee variety, which had never appeared in coffee competitions before, began to attract attention, but most people held a wait-and-see attitude, and some even thought it was a fluke. Unexpectedly, it won the championship again the following year. This time it could not be underestimated. However, due to limited production, people turned to other countries to buy Geisha coffee beans. Subsequently, Esmeralda Estate continued to win championships year after year, becoming a Panamanian national treasure. But winning Panama's recognition alone was not enough. In 2005, Esmeralda Estate Geisha defeated heroes from around the world in the SCAA (Specialty Coffee Association of America) competition, winning the title of world's best. It won world championships again in 2006 and 2007. At this point, Esmeralda Estate Geisha had become a sensational topic in coffee circles around the world.

To date, La Esmeralda Estate has won 12 championships in various coffee competitions. In online public auctions, it has set three highest bid records: $21 in 2004, $50.25 in 2006, and $130 in 2007! Of course, other countries have also seen good coffee fetch close to $50 per pound (Brazil's 2005 CoE champion Fazenda Santa Inês, Guatemala's 2008 CoE champion El Injerto at $80.20). But note the timing - when La Esmeralda's prices set records, no previous bids had surpassed hers. Later some did, but she would surpass others again. She is truly a record creator, not by accident!

La Esmeralda Estate was purchased by Price Peterson's father, Swedish-American banker Rudolph A. Peterson, who once served as president of Bank of America and was a major figure in the financial world at the time. Rudolph bought Hacienda La Esmeralda only for vacation and later retirement use. He probably didn't expect that this estate would become world-famous and even become a representative of Panama's specialty coffee estates. After Price took over, he segmented the market into three major brands for sale based on altitude, microclimate, cupping performance, and planted varieties. (The Geisha variety in Esmeralda was discovered in the Geisha forest of Ethiopia in 1931, then sent to the Coffee Research Institute in Kenya. In 1936, it was introduced to Uganda and Tanzania, and in 1953, Costa Rica introduced it. Geisha had not received much attention until one day when Don Pachi first brought it from the small town of GESHA in southwestern Ethiopia to Costa Rica. Later, Geisha entered Panama along the southern route, where Panama's Esmeralda Estate separated it from other varieties and it won the national coffee competition championship.