What Grade is Geisha Coffee Bean and How Much Does a Cup Cost? Hand Pour Taste, Flavor, and Mouthfeel Description - Is It Delicious?

For many coffee enthusiasts, Geisha coffee is the ultimate pursuit—its elegant and refined flavor captivates even the most seasoned coffee connoisseurs accustomed to the rich flavors of Mandheling. As the saying goes, "you get what you pay for," so what's the price for a cup of such high-quality Geisha coffee?

FrontStreet Coffee's fresh-ground pour-over Emerald Red Label Geisha costs 75 yuan per cup, delivering complex fruit acidity from finely sorted and natural processing. Another FrontStreet Coffee option, the Emerald Green Label Geisha pour-over, is priced at 60 yuan per cup, with washed-processed Geisha showcasing white floral notes and Geisha's distinctive orange fragrance and honey sweetness. To help everyone better understand this "precious" coffee variety, FrontStreet Coffee will continue sharing Geisha-related knowledge.

Geisha Coffee Variety

As we all know, coffee flavor is closely related to its growing environment. Geisha variety coffee beans are quite particular about growing conditions—only in areas with high altitudes, cloud cover or extensive shade trees, and fertile soil can coffee beans with rich, captivating floral aromas and delicate, elegant fruit acidity be harvested. Geisha/Gesha, because its pronunciation is similar to the Japanese "Geisha" (芸者), is sometimes called "Geisha" in certain regions. Around 2006, Mr. Yuan from Kamoru Coffee first imported Panamanian Geisha to China and named it "Gui Xia" (瑰夏), a name that has been used ever since.

Panamanian Geisha Coffee Beans

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 started with a golden spoon in its mouth.

Panamanian Geisha coffee beans are world-renowned, and all of Panama's coffee cultivation centers around the Chiriquí volcanic region. The most beautiful among these is the Boquete region, where unique volcanic fertile soil, abundant water, regular rainfall, dense vegetation, and cloud cover nourish the coffee trees, producing high-quality coffee beans with rich flavors. Many different microclimates also help produce coffee beans with diverse flavor characteristics, and La Esmeralda estate is also located within this region. The neighboring Volcán region has recently emerged as another area for cultivating high-quality Geisha coffee.

Deborah Estate

A new FrontStreet Coffee offering, FrontStreet Coffee's Deborah Estate Geisha, is grown in the Volcán region. According to FrontStreet Coffee's research, Panama's Deborah Estate is situated in the high mountains of the Chiriquí volcano and is one of Panama's highest and most remote coffee farms. At these altitudes, nighttime temperatures can drop to 10°C. The extreme elevation and lower temperatures slow down the trees' metabolism. These low temperatures of 10°C allow trees to push more sugars into the cherries during production. Additionally, Deborah Estate enjoys ideal rainfall, averaging 2200 millimeters annually.

For most of the year, Deborah Estate is shrouded in the clouds of the tropical rainforest, where rare flora and fauna thrive undisturbed under the canopy. The estate doesn't use gas-powered machinery or harsh chemical pesticides and herbicides during cultivation. It actively maintains natural growing conditions, using natural organic fertilizers combined with organic weeds to maintain ecological balance between coffee trees and unwanted shrubbery.

Due to the higher elevation, insect problems are also minimized. These positive benefits are reflected in management, translating to lower costs and reduced production fluctuations. Such excellent geographical conditions create coffee of exceptional quality and rich flavors at Deborah Estate.

FrontStreet Coffee · Panama Deborah Estate Savage Series Geisha Coffee Beans

Origin: Panama Volcán region
Estate: Deborah Estate
Owner: Jamison Savage
Altitude: 2000m～2350m
Variety: Geisha
Grade: SHB
Processing: Anaerobic Natural Processing
Flavor Description: Prominent white floral notes, pineapple-like acidity, lactic beverage-like sweet and sour notes, full body, overall clean and balanced.

La Esmeralda Estate

In 1964, American banker Rudolph Peterson retired, moved to Panama, and purchased La Esmeralda estate in Boquete, initially focusing on dairy farming. Later, his son Price resigned from his medical position to help manage the farm with his father. In 1987, they introduced Caturra and Catuai coffee varieties, and in 1994, established a washing station, giving them their own coffee processing facility. In 1996, they acquired the nearby Jaramillo estate, which had superior geographical conditions and good-flavored existing coffee varieties, incorporating it into La Esmeralda.

The Peterson father and son took notice of Jaramillo precisely because of its existing coffee beans, which carried pleasant orange and floral-fruit aromas, different from traditional Panamanian coffee flavors. After cupping coffee beans from different areas of the estate, they discovered unknown coffee trees growing at the highest point of the estate. Due to low yields, the previous owner had used them only as windbreaks, but the Petersons uncovered their potential and decided to cultivate these trees separately.

Beginning with winning the 2004 Panama Best of Panama (BOP) competition, their Geisha made waves. Later, expert identification confirmed that these coffee beans were the Ethiopian Geisha variety. Afterward, the Peterson family focused most of their energy on developing infrastructure to support excellent batch separation and fine processing.

Currently, La Esmeralda has three main estates cultivating Geisha varieties: El Velo, Canas Verdes, and Jaramillo. In 1996, they acquired Jaramillo, which had superior geographical conditions and good-flavored existing coffee varieties. El Velo was acquired by La Esmeralda in 2012. FrontStreet Coffee believes that La Esmeralda's strategy of acquiring high-altitude estates with excellent production was unique at the time, enabling them to establish a significant position in the coffee industry.

Although La Esmeralda initially discovered coffee beans with flavor potential, for precision, they cupped coffee beans from different areas of the estate, determining planting plots based on altitude. This led to the current Emerald Red Label, Green Label, and Blue Label Geisha grades, all classified by altitude. FrontStreet Coffee will explain this content in detail below.

FrontStreet Coffee · Panama La Esmeralda Red Label Geisha Coffee Beans

La Esmeralda's Red Label Geisha coffee beans are grown at altitudes of 1600-1800 meters, with cupping scores above 90 points, primarily from the Jaramillo and Canas Verdes regions. Red Label batches can be either washed or natural processed, but Red Label batches are only available through global auctions. The independent auctions held by Panama La Esmeralda Geisha feature Geisha batches grown in designated plots for auction—only these become auction Red Labels.

FrontStreet Coffee · Panama La Esmeralda Red Label Geisha Coffee Beans

Region: Boquete
Estate: La Esmeralda El Velo
Altitude: 1600~1800m
Variety: Geisha
Processing: Natural

Customers often ask, "Which tastes better—the auction Red Label or the regular Red Label?" Actually, the non-auction Red Label comes from the same plots as the auction Red Label; the difference is whether it participated in the auction. FrontStreet Coffee believes you don't necessarily need to drink auction-level coffee. First, because the price is indeed quite high; second, if you're just curious and want to try, FrontStreet Coffee's non-auction batch of FrontStreet Coffee's Panama La Esmeralda Red Label Geisha coffee beans is also an excellent choice. This grade of Geisha uses natural or washed processing methods, with flavors featuring special, bright floral aromas and citrus notes.

FrontStreet Coffee · Panama La Esmeralda Green Label Geisha Coffee Beans

Although La Esmeralda's Green Label batches don't participate in auctions, the coffee beans still maintain excellent quality. Green Label Geisha coffee beans are grown at altitudes of 1600-1800 meters, primarily mixed from different plots including Jaramillo and Canas Verdes.

Due to the model of mixing different plots, sometimes the flavor similarity between Emerald Green Label Geisha and Emerald Red Label Geisha can be very high. Although the grade of Green Label Geisha coffee beans is not as high as Red Label, it has high clarity, with overall tendencies toward jasmine tea flavors, high acidity, while natural-processed Emerald Green Label Geisha has good sweetness, pleasant sweet and sour notes reminiscent of passionfruit and floral tea. Green Label Geisha batches are available in both washed and natural processing.

FrontStreet Coffee · Panama La Esmeralda Green Label Geisha Coffee Beans

Country: Panama
Region: Boquete
Estate: La Esmeralda
Altitude: 1600~1800m
Processing: Washed
Variety: Geisha

Customers often ask, "What's the difference between Red Label and Green Label?" FrontStreet Coffee offers an easy-to-understand reference: Emerald Red Label Geisha coffee beans can be traced back to the specific plot where the coffee beans grew; while Emerald Green Label Geisha is a blend, so it cannot be traced. La Esmeralda's Green Label Geisha uses a blending model, so no detailed plot annotations are provided. It's precisely because of this point that FrontStreet Coffee sometimes finds extremely high flavor similarity between Emerald Green Label Geisha and Emerald Red Label Geisha.

FrontStreet Coffee · Panama La Esmeralda Blue Label Geisha Coffee Beans

The brand Geisha 1500 is what we commonly know as Blue Label Geisha. Grown at altitudes of 1400-1500 meters, it's a blend from three different plots: Jaramillo, Canas Verdes, and El Velo. The flavor features subtle floral notes and fruit acidity, with a body relatively less full than the other two Geisha grades. However, it excels in reasonable pricing and possesses the traditional Panamanian Geisha flavors that should be expected.

For a long time, Blue Label Geisha actually didn't have natural processing methods until 2020, when La Esmeralda officially launched natural-processed Geisha coffee. FrontStreet Coffee was also among the first to purchase this batch of Blue Label Geisha. Compared to the previous FrontStreet Coffee Emerald washed Blue Label, FrontStreet Coffee's Emerald natural Blue Label shows more passionfruit aroma, with faint tea flower fragrance and clear, bright citrus flavors.

Notably, starting from 2021, La Esmeralda adjusted its Geisha coffee grading. Beginning with the 2021 production season, La Esmeralda canceled the Blue Label batch (Geisha 1500), and the 2021-produced "Geisha 1500" continues to be sold under a new trademark "Las Rocas" (Volcanic Rock Geisha). Therefore, friends who miss the Emerald Blue Label shouldn't be sad—the Blue Label just changed its name. FrontStreet Coffee confirmed through cupping that this FrontStreet Coffee Panama Volcanic Rock Geisha tastes the same as the Emerald Blue Label Geisha.

What's a Reasonable Price for Geisha?

At FrontStreet Coffee, Emerald Red Label Geisha coffee is 350 yuan/100g, Green Label Geisha is 168 yuan/100g, and Volcanic Rock Geisha (new Blue Label) is 108 yuan/100g. These prices are below the market average, which leads many customers to worry about whether the beans might be fake. Regarding this issue, FrontStreet Coffee has been deeply cultivating for 9 years, has stable raw bean suppliers, and operates its own roasting facility, naturally controlling costs. Friends familiar with raw bean channels should understand this better. Moreover, Panama La Esmeralda's Geisha is extremely distinctive in both appearance and flavor, making it difficult for other coffees to imitate.

FrontStreet Coffee Panama Geisha Coffee Beans Brewing Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee considers this FrontStreet Coffee Panama Geisha coffee bean to be lightly roasted. Light-roasted beans have lower solubility than dark-roasted ones, so to ensure full extraction of Geisha flavors, FrontStreet Coffee uses higher water temperature for brewing and also chooses a finer grind. Some fans have noticed that FrontStreet Coffee has always recommended a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, while for La Esmeralda Geisha it's 1:16. This is because slightly expanding the coffee-to-water ratio helps better experience Geisha's layering and flavors.

Brewing Parameters

Dripper: V60#01
Water Temperature: 91°C
Coffee Dose: 15g
Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15
Grind Size: Medium-fine (Chinese standard #20 sieve, 78% pass rate)

FrontStreet Coffee Panama Geisha Coffee Beans Brewing Technique

FrontStreet Coffee uses segmented extraction, also called three-stage brewing. Use 30g of water for a 30-second bloom, then continue pouring in small circles to 125g for segmentation. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 240g and stop. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, remove the dripper. (Timing starts from the bloom) Extraction time is 2'00".

FrontStreet Coffee Panama La Esmeralda Red Label Geisha Coffee Beans Flavor Description

Bright rose and citrus aromas, brown rice, berries, apricots, complex fruits, honey, with a full-bodied juice sensation, rich flavor layers, and prominent sweetness.

FrontStreet Coffee Panama La Esmeralda Green Label Geisha Coffee Beans Flavor Description

Rich jasmine floral aroma, high sweetness, citrus, berries, juice sensation, cream, green tea, orange peel, cantaloupe, overall rich flavor layers with lingering floral and citrus notes.

FrontStreet Coffee Panama La Esmeralda Volcanic Rock Geisha Coffee Beans Flavor Description

Jasmine, lemon, citrus, honey, oolong tea, rich juice sensation, with prominent honey notes.

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style). For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee's private WeChat: kaixinguoguo0925

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473