Panama Coffee: History of Four Major Growing Regions, Hacienda La Esmeralda Story, and Geisha Coffee Bean Characteristics

Panamanian Geisha Coffee: The Crown Jewel of Premium Specialty Coffee

Panamanian Geisha coffee beans are world-renowned, with the entire country immersed in the rich Geisha culture. Among these, the Geisha coffee beans produced by Hacienda La Esmeralda enjoy the greatest fame. Panamanian Geisha coffee beans follow a strict grading system, with commonly heard varieties like Blue Label Geisha and Red Label Geisha. Today, FrontStreet Coffee will explain the exceptional leader among premium specialty coffees—Panamanian coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee · Panamanian Coffee

Panama is located in Central America, connecting North and South America, bordering Costa Rica and Colombia. Panama's coffee journey can be described as having been born with a silver spoon.

As is well known, the Panama Canal was built by the United States and was once exclusively controlled by America for a period after its completion. It was the construction of the Panama Canal that brought many American elites south in the late 20th century—partly for work requirements and partly to explore business opportunities. Many of Panama's famous coffee estates were established by these elites. For example, the owner of Hacienda La Esmeralda was formerly a banker, and the owner of Hartmann Estate was previously an engineer. These elites adhered to principles of standardization and refinement in managing their coffee estates. Whether it was allocating plots for coffee tree cultivation based on altitude to create coffee bean grades, or implementing manual harvesting and refined processing methods, all these factors contributed to making Panamanian coffee famous worldwide.

FrontStreet Coffee · Panamanian Coffee Growing Regions

Panama has four main coffee growing regions: Boquete, Volcán, Santa Clara, and Candelaria. The Boquete coffee region has an average altitude of 1450 meters and produces the highest quantity and quality of Panamanian coffee. The Volcán coffee region has an average altitude of 2000 meters, and coffee from this region is characterized by relatively mild and balanced flavors. The Santa Clara coffee region has an average altitude of 1500 meters and is close to the Panama Canal, making coffee transportation very convenient. The Candelaria coffee region has an average altitude of 1200 meters and has gradually gained attention in recent years. The industry believes it has potential for developing high-quality specialty coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee · Hacienda La Esmeralda Geisha Coffee Beans

Hacienda La Esmeralda is located in the Boquete coffee region and was purchased in 1964 by retired American banker Rudolph A. Peterson. Initially, it focused on dairy farming. Later, his son Price, who was a doctor, resigned from his job to help his father manage the farm. In 1987, they introduced Caturra and Catuai coffee varieties. In 1994, they established a wet processing plant, and in 1996, they purchased the Jaramillo farm, incorporating it into Hacienda La Esmeralda.

The Geisha coffee beans came from the Jaramillo farm. Initially, it wasn't known that they were Geisha variety—it was just that the coffee beans from a particular plot of this farm had exceptional flavor, not typical of Panamanian coffee beans. Later, after continuous cupping verification, the Peterson family decided to separate the coffee beans from this plot for independent cultivation. After winning first place in the 2004 Panama Best of Panama (BOP) green bean competition and achieving excellent results that gained attention, expert identification later revealed that this coffee bean was the Geisha variety from Ethiopia. Since then, the Peterson family has focused most of their energy on developing infrastructure to support outstanding batch separation and refined processing.

FrontStreet Coffee · Hacienda La Esmeralda Coffee Plot Division

The excellence of Hacienda La Esmeralda's Geisha coffee is closely related to its grading system. Hacienda La Esmeralda divides plots based on altitude, with three main plots: Jaramillo, Cañas Verdes, and El Velo. Each plot is further subdivided into smaller plots, all marked with their specific altitude to ensure traceability of Geisha coffee bean origins.

High-quality Geisha mainly comes from the Jaramillo and Cañas Verdes plots. Jaramillo has an annual rainfall of 4000ml, with average daytime temperatures between 19-25°C and nighttime temperatures between 11-15°C, at an average altitude of 1600-1700m. Cañas Verdes has an annual rainfall of 3500ml, with average daytime temperatures between 16-23°C and nighttime temperatures between 10-15°C, at an average altitude of 1600-1800m.

El Velo is the most recently acquired plot of Hacienda La Esmeralda, with an average altitude of 1700-1900 meters. In addition to growing Geisha and Catuai, this plot also has small amounts of other exotic varieties such as Pointed Bourbon, Pacamara, Mocha, and SL28.

FrontStreet Coffee · Hacienda La Esmeralda Coffee Bean Grading System

Based on cupping performance, cultivated varieties, and growing plots, Hacienda La Esmeralda is divided into five brands. The Geisha variety has three brands: Esmeralda Special, Private Collection, and Geisha 1500. In terms of grading from highest to lowest: Esmeralda Special, Private Collection, Geisha 1500. The Catuai variety has two brands: Diamond Mountain and Palmyra.

[FrontStreet Coffee Panamanian Hacienda La Esmeralda Red Label Geisha Coffee]

Esmeralda Special's Geisha is what we commonly call the Red Label. It selects Geisha beans grown at altitudes of 1600-1800 meters, with cupping scores above 90 points, from the Jaramillo and Cañas Verdes regions.

The independent auction held by Hacienda La Esmeralda itself—only the Geisha batches from designated plots that are put up for auction qualify as auction Red Label. However, there are also non-auction Red Labels on the market today. These are actually Geisha beans selected from the same plots but not put up for auction, then circulated in the market. The variety and quality are consistent, only showing differences in selling price.

This grade of Geisha uses natural or washed processing methods, with flavors featuring special, bright floral notes and citrus aromas.

FrontStreet Coffee · Panama Hacienda La Esmeralda Red Label Geisha

Region: Panama, Boquete
Estate: Hacienda La Esmeralda, Cañas Verdes
Altitude: 1600-1800 meters
Variety: Geisha
Processing Method: Natural

[FrontStreet Coffee Panamanian Hacienda La Esmeralda Green Label Geisha Coffee]

Private Collection is the Green Label Geisha—not an independent competition batch, but a Geisha variety grown in non-auction plots but still of excellent quality. It selects micro-batch mixed beans grown at altitudes of 1600-1800 meters from different plots including Jaramillo and Cañas Verdes.

Because it uses a mixed bean model without detailed plot specification, sometimes the Green Label Geisha can have very similar flavors to the Red Label, but the next batch might show differences.

Although FrontStreet Coffee's Green Label Geisha is not as high-grade as the Red Label, it still carries the classic Geisha flavors—floral notes, fruit aromas, citrus acidity, and a thick, juicy mouthfeel. Green Label Geisha also comes in both washed and natural processing.

FrontStreet Coffee · Panama Hacienda La Esmeralda Green Label Geisha

Region: Panama, Boquete
Estate: Hacienda La Esmeralda
Altitude: 1600-1800 meters
Variety: Geisha
Processing Method: Washed or Natural

[FrontStreet Coffee Panamanian Hacienda La Esmeralda Blue Label Geisha Coffee]

Geisha 1500 is the Blue Label Geisha. It selects mixed beans from three different plots—Jaramillo, Cañas Verdes, and El Velo—at altitudes of 1400-1500 meters. The flavors feature light floral notes, fruit acidity, and sweetness, with a less thick mouthfeel. Originally, Blue Label Geisha was only available in washed processing. However, in 2020, Hacienda La Esmeralda also introduced natural processed FrontStreet Coffee Blue Label Geisha.

In summary, the most obvious differences between Red Label Geisha, Green Label Geisha, and Blue Label Geisha coffee are the different cultivation altitudes and whether mixed beans are used. Simply put, high altitude (1600-1800 meters) with clear plot information is Red Label Geisha. Mixed coffee beans from the same altitude as Red Label are Green Label Geisha, and finally, lower altitude (1400-1500 meters) is Blue Label Geisha.

FrontStreet Coffee · Panama Hacienda La Esmeralda Blue Label Geisha

Region: Panama, Boquete
Estate: Hacienda La Esmeralda
Altitude: 1500 meters
Variety: Geisha
Processing Method: Washed or Natural

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee recommends unified brewing parameters: 90°C water temperature, 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, 15g coffee grounds, and fine sugar grinding consistency (80% pass rate through China standard #20 sieve).

FrontStreet Coffee considers that these FrontStreet Coffee Panamanian Hacienda La Esmeralda Geisha coffee beans are all lightly roasted. Light roast coffee beans have lower soluble solid rates than dark roasts, so to ensure full extraction of Geisha flavors, higher water temperature is used for brewing, along with finer grinding consistency. Some fans have noticed that FrontStreet Coffee has always recommended a 1:15 powder-to-water ratio, while Hacienda La Esmeralda's Geisha uses 1:16. This is because slightly increasing the powder-to-water ratio helps better experience the layers and flavors of Geisha.

FrontStreet Coffee uses segmented extraction, also called three-stage brewing. Use 30g of water for bloom for 30 seconds, then pour with a small circular stream to 125g for segmentation. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 225g and stop. Wait until the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, then remove the filter cone. Extraction time is 2'00" to 2'05" (starting from bloom timing).

[FrontStreet Coffee Panamanian Hacienda La Esmeralda Red Label Geisha] has bright rose and citrus aromas, brown rice, berries, apricots, complex fruits, honey, with a thick juice-like mouthfeel, rich flavor layers, and noticeable sweetness.

[FrontStreet Coffee Panamanian Hacienda La Esmeralda Green Label Geisha] has strong jasmine floral aroma, high sweetness, citrus, berries, juice-like mouthfeel, cream, green tea, orange peel, cantaloupe, with overall rich flavor layers and a finish with persistent floral and citrus notes.

[FrontStreet Coffee Panamanian Hacienda La Esmeralda Blue Label Geisha] has floral notes, with soft lemon and grapefruit acidity upon entry, honey sweetness in the middle, and oolong tea notes and brown sugar sweetness in the finish, with a relatively clean and bright mouthfeel.

FrontStreet Coffee · Don Pepe Estate

This paradise land where Don Pepe Estate sits is located on the southern foothills of the Baru Volcano in Panama, above the town of Portrerillos, at an altitude of 1700-1800 meters. From Don Pepe Estate, one can see the Atlantic Ocean. The estate itself is very small, only 5 hectares, making it a micro-estate.

Don't be fooled by such a small estate—the soil and growing environment within are of excellent quality. The hillsides were originally covered with primeval forest, with tall trees providing the best shade-grown coffee environment. In some places, the vegetation is so dense that sunlight can't penetrate, affecting coffee growth, so they had to clear overly dense thickets in the past two years to allow Geisha trees to grow fully. Because it's near the Baru Volcano, the 1550 eruption created high-quality volcanic soil. FrontStreet Coffee believes that in addition to potassium and phosphorus, volcanic soil also has very high organic matter content, which nurtures Geisha coffee with very rich and layered flavors.

Don Pepe Estate was established by Amado Boutet, the grandfather of current Lamastus family heir Wilford Lamastus. When global coffee market prices were low, the grandfather's family could only sell large coffee estates. Mr. Wilford and his brother Patrick Lamastus couldn't bear to see their family's coffee estate be sold, so they bought Don Pepe Estate to continue operations. Although the business process was difficult and even required working other jobs to obtain additional income, Mr. Wilford never gave up on this coffee estate. Persistence pays off—starting in 2015, Don Pepe Estate's coffee beans have also achieved excellent results in BOP competitions.

FrontStreet Coffee · Don Pepe Estate Coffee Bean Processing Method

After harvesting the fruits, the estate sorts them and places them on sunbeds for drying. The coffee fruits are dried naturally, with their color changing from red to dark brown. Total drying time is 18-30 days. After drying is complete, they are stored until the coffee beans are shipped, at which point all dried fruit skins, pulp, and parchment layers are removed to extract the coffee beans. Then unripe, overripe, and fermented beans are sorted out to prepare for shipping.

FrontStreet Coffee believes that the advantage of this natural processing method is that it can completely isolate impurities from contact with soil, while also improving the efficiency of coffee fruit drying, better presenting the original fruit flavors of the coffee. This work improves the overall cupping quality and post-roasting consistency.

FrontStreet Coffee Roasting Records

FrontStreet Coffee's roaster uses a Yangjia 800N semi-direct flame roaster with 300g batch size. Heat the drum to 160°C before dropping beans, with damper at 3 and heat at 130. Return to temperature at 1'40", when drum temperature reaches 140°C, adjust heat to 110 and damper to 4. At this point, the bean surface turns yellow and grassy aroma completely disappears, entering the dehydration phase. When drum temperature reaches 166°C, reduce heat to 80 with damper unchanged. At 176°C, reduce to 50 with damper unchanged.

At 6'50", the bean surface shows ugly wrinkles and black spots, with toast aroma clearly turning to coffee aroma—this can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this point, listen carefully for the first crack sound. At 7'37", first crack begins, reduce heat to 50 and damper to 5 (adjust heat very carefully—don't reduce it so much that cracking stops). Develop for 1'30" after first crack, then drop at 190°C.

FrontStreet Coffee Cupping Report

FrontStreet Coffee conducts cupping within 8-24 hours after roasting sample coffee beans. FrontStreet Coffee's barista typically uses 200ml ceramic cupping bowls. Cupping water temperature is 94°C. Grinding consistency is controlled at 70%-75% pass rate through standard #20 sieve (0.85mm). Ratio: 11.1g coffee powder plus 200ml hot water, i.e., 1:18.18, which extracts a concentration正好 within the golden cup range of 1.15%-1.35%, with a steeping time of 4 minutes.

Dry aroma: Fermented wine aroma
Wet aroma: Sweet orange
Flavor: Fermented wine aroma, sweet orange, honey, berries, pineapple, cream, fruit tea, green apple

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Sharing

Filter: V60#01
Water temperature: 91°C
Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15
Grind: Medium-coarse (80% pass rate through China standard #20 sieve)

Brewing method: Three-stage extraction. Use 30g water for bloom for 30 seconds, then pour with small circular stream to 125g for segmentation. When water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 225g and stop. Wait until water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, then remove filter cone. Extraction time is 2'02" (starting from bloom timing).

Brewing flavors: Smells of ginger flower aroma, with citrus, honey, and berry flavors upon entry, plus fermented wine aroma. As temperature decreases, pineapple-like sweetness gradually emerges, with sweet orange acidity in the finish.

FrontStreet Coffee · Panama Janson Estate Natural Geisha

Region: Volcán region
Estate: Janson Estate
Altitude: 1750m
Variety: Geisha
Grade: SHG
Processing: Natural

Janson Estate

In the 2013 Panama Specialty Coffee Association's Panama Coffee Awards, there was a new finalist—Carl Janson's Janson Estate Geisha. The estate owner Mr. Carl Janson is Swiss. When he came to Panama, he deeply fell in love with the Volcán area, surrounded by mountains similar to his homeland Switzerland. After marrying his wife Margaret, he purchased this estate in 1940. The Janson family has now reached its third generation.

Janson Estate has an average altitude of 1700 meters, annual rainfall of about 3000mm, and average temperature of 20°C. The estate is covered with nutrient-rich volcanic soil. Under these conditions of high altitude, nutrient-rich volcanic soil, abundant rainfall, and suitable temperatures, Janson Estate gradually became the second-largest producer of Panamanian Geisha, with 50% of the estate planted with Geisha variety coffee trees.

Janson Estate's operators place great importance on maintaining environmental balance, adopting 100% sustainable farming practices and using enzyme microorganisms to maintain nutrient balance in the soil. They also operate livestock farming alongside coffee cultivation and have specially built processing plants to use processed coffee cherries as farm fertilizer. Only 2000 Geisha plants are planted per hectare to ensure sufficient soil between plants. Half of the estate is planted with Geisha, ranking second in Panamanian Geisha production. Each batch of green beans has highly recognizable batch numbers and is 100% traceable.

Processing Method

This FrontStreet Coffee Janson Estate Geisha uses natural processing method.

The natural processing method is the oldest and most original coffee bean processing method. Harvested coffee cherries are placed on patios, and some are even directly exposed to sunlight on roadsides, receiving direct sun exposure (approximately 27-30 days) to reduce moisture content from 60% to about 12%. Beans processed using the natural method have the lowest acidity, noticeable sweetness, high body but slightly lower clarity. In addition to natural processing, Janson Estate also uses other processing methods, such as washed processing using mountain spring water.

Example of [FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Recommendations]

Filter: Hario V60
Water temperature: 90°C
Coffee amount: 15g
Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15
Grind: Medium-fine

Brewing Method

Segmented extraction
Use 30g water for bloom for 30 seconds, then pour with small circular stream to 125g for segmentation. When water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 225g and stop. Wait until water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, then remove filter cone. Extraction time is 2'00" (starting from bloom timing).

Flavor Description

Dry aroma: Jasmine flowers, berries, citrus, banana, peach, mango
Wet aroma: Wild ginger flowers, cantaloupe, lemon, grapes, juice-like mouthfeel, blackcurrant
Entry: Perfect flavors of classic Geisha coffee, delicate and beautiful acidity, light mouthfeel, with floral notes and honey intertwining to create an unforgettable, wonderful finish.

Important Notice :

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