La Candela Estate Geisha Coffee Bean Flavor Profile - How to Brew Costa Rican Geisha Coffee for the Best Taste

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When talking about the renowned Geisha variety, FrontStreet Coffee believes that the Geisha coffee that comes to everyone's mind must be from Panama's Hacienda La Esmeralda. Geisha's characteristic floral aroma and fruit juice-like smooth texture are truly unforgettable. Today, FrontStreet Coffee wants to introduce Geisha coffee, but not Panama's Geisha - rather, Geisha coffee from Costa Rica, Panama's neighboring country.

Costa Rica has a very long history of coffee cultivation, having introduced it from Cuba in 1729. This makes Costa Rica the first country in Central America to grow coffee and the first to cultivate it for commercial value. Additionally, this Costa Rican Geisha coffee uses the country's specialty raisin honey processing method, so this Geisha coffee has very different flavor characteristics from Panama's Geisha coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee has also introduced many Geisha coffee varieties. Besides Panamanian Geisha coffee, there's also the Geisha blend from Costa Rica's Mirasu Estate. Costa Rica has eight major coffee producing regions: Western Valley (Valley Central Occidental), Central Valley (Valley Central), Tarrazu, Tres Rios, Orosi, Brunca, and Turrialba. The Tarrazu region is Costa Rica's specialty coffee producing area, and Mirasu Estate is located in Costa Rica's Tarrazu region. The climate at Mirasu Estate is very suitable for growing coffee trees, with fertile volcanic rock and year-round rainfall, plus high altitude. Such climate conditions are very conducive to forming Costa Rican coffee's high-quality "strictly hard beans." This type of coffee bean has excellent acidity, and its flavor is more intense than low-altitude coffee beans like those from Brazil.

Additionally, La Candela Estate has a great reputation in Costa Rica and is famous for producing one of the world's best Geisha coffees. La Candela Estate's Geisha coffee has rich acidity with distinct plum and citrus fruit aromas. FrontStreet Coffee has also introduced a Geisha coffee from La Candela Estate that's definitely worth trying.

When it comes to Costa Rica's coffee bean processing methods, FrontStreet Coffee believes everyone is quite familiar with them. Costa Rica's honey processing technology is very famous. Generally, after removing the outer skin and pulp of the coffee cherries, the mucilage is retained for drying. Therefore, Costa Rican honey-processed coffee beans have excellent sweetness. Through cupping honey-processed and washed-processed coffee beans, FrontStreet Coffee found that honey-processed beans have higher sweetness than washed-processed beans, and the body of honey-processed coffee during drying is also significantly richer than typical washed-processed beans.

If you've tried the Costa Rican Mirasu Estate Geisha coffee that FrontStreet Coffee carries, you'll find that this Geisha coffee retains the cleanliness of washed processing while also adding sweetness and caramel notes. However, the Mirasu Estate Geisha coffee that FrontStreet Coffee carries doesn't use ordinary honey processing, but rather a method called raisin honey processing, which preserves 100% mucilage and uses zero water processing. Coffee farmers first select the harvested coffee cherries, removing defective ones, then place the selected cherries on raised beds for drying before using a depulper to remove the outer skin. This method is more difficult and time-consuming than regular honey processing. Therefore, this Costa Rican Geisha coffee has rich strawberry-berry acidity with a hint of jasmine floral aroma.

This Costa Rican Geisha coffee that FrontStreet Coffee carries is somewhat different from Panama's Red Label, Green Label, and Blue Label Geisha coffees. This Geisha coffee's variety contains only 50% Geisha coffee beans, with the other half composed of ET47, SL28, and MAICO varieties. Because this Costa Rican coffee includes Geisha coffee, the dry aroma carries a very intense floral fragrance.

The Origins and History of Geisha Coffee

I believe everyone is familiar with the Geisha variety. Geisha coffee is most famous from Panama's Hacienda La Esmeralda. However, Geisha coffee didn't originally grow and get cultivated in Panama. Instead, it comes from the Geisha Forest in Ethiopia, the homeland of coffee, and was introduced to Costa Rica in 1953, then to Panama in 1970.

Initially, Geisha coffee trees had low yields, directly affecting harvest quantities, so farmers were unwilling to plant them and they were only used as windbreaks. Nobody noticed them at that time. It wasn't until Daniel Peterson, owner of Panama's Hacienda La Esmeralda, accidentally discovered that the coffee beans produced by the Geisha coffee trees in his coffee plantation had a unique aroma. He then separated this variety to participate in the Panamanian coffee cupping competition. Unexpectedly, it won the Best of Panama green coffee competition for several consecutive years, and its price skyrocketed. Just like that, Hacienda La Esmeralda started a Geisha craze that influenced the global coffee industry.

Coffee Varieties in the Blend

ET47 was introduced in the 1990s when the Costa Rican Coffee Research Institute gave many imported research tree varieties, which were used for leaf rust resistance studies, to farmers in the Tarrazu region for cultivation. This coffee bean variety has very charming fruit sweetness and a very clean taste.

SL28 comes from Kenya's Scott Laboratories. This variety is very drought-resistant and belongs to the Bourbon genetic group, so SL28 coffee beans also appear similar to Bourbon varieties with their round, full shape.

Tasting Notes and Brewing Experience

As the popularity of Geisha coffee continues to grow, more and more countries have joined the ranks of growing Geisha in recent years. Besides Costa Rica and Panama, countries like Colombia and Ethiopia also produce Geisha coffee. FrontStreet Coffee has also cupped this Mirasu Estate Geisha coffee. When ground, it has a jasmine-like dry aroma. After pouring hot water, a wave of jasmine fragrance emerges. When tasting, it has very bright lemon acidity. As it cools, it reveals passion fruit aroma and strawberry juice sensation, with honey-like sweet aftertaste. This is a very special Geisha flavor that's definitely worth trying.

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Recommendations

Dripper: V60 #01

Dose: 15g

Ratio: 1:15

Temperature: 90°C

Grind: Medium-fine (80% pass-through rate on China standard #20 sieve)

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Method: First wet the filter paper and preheat the dripper and coffee pot. Use 30g of water for bloom for 30 seconds. Pour with small circular motion to 125g for分段. When the water level is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 225g and stop. When the water level is about to expose the coffee bed again, remove the dripper (timing starts from bloom). Total extraction time is 2'01".

Brewing Flavor: Jasmine aroma, raisin sweetness and flavor, strawberry candy sweetness, nutty cream-like texture.

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473