Introduction to 90+ Coffee Estates Ninety Plus Geisha Coffee Bean Processing Process Flavor and Taste Description

Customers who visit FrontStreet Coffee always ask what coffee is currently the best-tasting, but FrontStreet Coffee cannot answer. Because everyone has their own taste preferences—some people like the herbal and dark chocolate flavors of FrontStreet Coffee's Indonesian Mandheling; some enjoy the obvious sweetness and light floral notes of FrontStreet Coffee's Panama Mariposa; others prefer the rich wine aroma and rich fermentation of FrontStreet Coffee's Honduras Sherry. Different strokes for different folks, so it's impossible to answer what coffee is the best-tasting. However, FrontStreet Coffee can tell you which coffee is the most expensive at FrontStreet Coffee's store. For many specialty coffee enthusiasts, FrontStreet Coffee's Geisha coffee is undoubtedly the "white moonlight" in their hearts, and FrontStreet Coffee's Geisha coffee is certainly of the highest grade.

The World's Most Expensive Coffee: Panama Geisha

Although Panama is not one of the world's top coffee-producing countries, it possesses the world's most expensive coffee today—Panama Geisha. Since the Best of Panama (BOP) competition in 2004, Geisha coffee prices have remained consistently high. Today, FrontStreet Coffee will introduce you to three world-renowned Geisha coffee estates: Hacienda La Esmeralda, Ninety Plus Gesha Estates, and Sophia Estate.

Ninety Plus Gesha Estates

The design inspiration for Ninety Plus Gesha Estates comes from the wild growth of Gesha varieties in their natural habitat in Ethiopia. The Gesha variety and all heirloom coffee varieties originate from the wild forests of Ethiopia. These heirloom coffee varieties have very long lifespans, with the longest lasting up to 100 years or even longer, and they produce relatively small quantities of coffee. In 2009, Joseph Brodsky, founder of Ninety Plus Gesha Estates, had the opportunity to acquire this land (approximately 200 hectares) and planted shade-loving Ethiopian Geisha coffee. In 2014, Ninety Plus Estates first cultivated Geisha coffee on a large scale, and since then, Ninety Plus Gesha Estates has won first place in the World Brewers Cup championship five times within six years.

According to FrontStreet Coffee's research, Ninety Plus Estates currently has four series: Signature, Innovation, Founder's Selection, Limited Edition, and Ascent. The Signature series contains five varieties: Nekisse, Lycello, Juliette, Perci, Lotus, plus a mixed heirloom variety collection. The Innovation series includes five coffees: Ruby, Carmo, Tigre, Yuzo, and Kule. The Founder's Selection series currently has three batches of Geisha (#0602, #0526B, #0317), with a starting price of $200 for 10 grams. The Limited Edition series currently contains only one blended Geisha variety coffee, with the official website clearly noting that it is only Geisha-flavored coffee, with each coffee packet containing only 1 gram of Geisha. The Ascent series contains three Geisha coffees: Drima Zede, Kemgin, and Kambera, with starting prices reaching $19, $21.85, and $24.70 respectively.

It's worth noting that Ninety Plus doesn't refer to coffee scoring above 90 points, but rather to a selected series of premium coffees. Ninety Plus collaborates with different estates, from planting, sampling, harvesting to subsequent processing and cupping. Coffees are processed separately according to variety, climate, and maturity to achieve optimal taste and perfection, then sold under the Ninety Plus name.

Ninety Plus's sustainable development model and environmentally friendly operations also serve as learning experiences for many coffee producers. Through coffee forest restoration projects covering over 1,500 hectares in Panama and Ethiopia, the company has established an international brand that promotes ecological and socially oriented agricultural economic models, improving the quality of life for its coffee cultivation professionals. Simply put, they teach coffee farmers how to grow high-quality coffee, and the money earned is used to improve their lives and maintain healthy coffee forest ecosystems. Today, Ninety Plus coffee estates are highly sought after by coffee enthusiasts worldwide and are known as the "Louis Vuitton of the coffee world."

Hacienda La Esmeralda

The Geisha coffee regularly featured on FrontStreet Coffee's bean list comes from Hacienda La Esmeralda. Although it has been introduced many times in previous articles, FrontStreet Coffee will explain it again here to deepen everyone's impression.

Regarding the history of Hacienda La Esmeralda: In 1967, a Swedish-American banker named Rudolph A. Peterson (1904-2003) purchased Hacienda La Esmeralda as a retirement enterprise. At that time, the land was primarily used as a pasture for grazing beef cattle, with a small amount of coffee cultivation. In 1997, the Peterson family purchased another piece of land that would later become Jaramillo Farm, at higher altitudes specifically for coffee cultivation, hoping to develop higher-scoring, more vibrant, and more delicate coffee.

It's said that initially, Geisha coffee was only used as a windbreak, but an accident led the Peterson family to discover this coffee. In 2004, Hacienda La Esmeralda won the championship of the Best of Panama competition with its stunning Geisha coffee flavor, setting a record for the highest price ever. Since then, more and more people began to pay attention to the Geisha coffee variety. In that year's competition, the Peterson couple made some unprecedented experimental divisions in grading Geisha coffee: during processing, they separated production from different farm areas into individual batches.

FrontStreet Coffee · Esmeralda Special (Red Label Geisha)

It is made from Geisha coffee beans grown at altitudes of 1600-1800 meters, with cupping scores above 90 points and produced from the Jaramillo and Cañas Verdes regions. Additionally, it must participate in Hacienda La Esmeralda's independent auction, where Geisha batches from designated plots are selected for auction to become auction Red Label. However, there are also non-auction Red Labels on the market today, which are actually Geisha beans selected from the same plots but not participating in auctions, then circulated on the market. The variety and quality are consistent, only showing differences in selling price.

FrontStreet Coffee · Private Reserve (Green Label Geisha)

The difference between it and Red Label Geisha is that it's not from independent competition batches, but still maintains excellent quality Geisha varieties. Green Label Geisha uses micro-batch blends from different plots at altitudes of 1600-1800 meters, produced from Jaramillo, Cañas Verdes, and other regions. Due to the blended bean model without detailed plot specifications, Green Label Geisha sometimes has very similar flavor profiles to Red Label Geisha. Although Green Label Geisha is not as high-grade as Red Label Geisha, it still possesses the classic Geisha flavors, such as the characteristic floral, fruity, and citrus aromas of Geisha coffee, with thick and juicy mouthfeel.

Here's some additional knowledge about Hacienda La Esmeralda's Geisha coffee: according to FrontStreet Coffee's understanding, Geisha coffee has a peculiar characteristic—the more extreme and harsh the growing environment, the better its flavor performance. This also means Geisha coffee is particularly difficult to harvest and has very low yields. Therefore, not every estate can produce delicious Geisha coffee; sufficient conditions and equipment are necessary to produce Geisha coffee with excellent flavor, which is why Hacienda La Esmeralda's Geisha coffee beans stand out.

FrontStreet Coffee · Geisha 1500 (Blue Label Geisha)

In 2021, Hacienda La Esmeralda discontinued the Blue Label Geisha grade for unknown reasons, but FrontStreet Coffee will still share some knowledge about FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Label Geisha. FrontStreet Coffee's Esmeralda Blue Label Geisha uses beans grown at altitudes of 1400-1500 meters, from blended batches of three different areas: Jaramillo, Cañas Verdes, and El Velo. Compared to Green and Red Labels, it has a less thick mouthfeel but still maintains classic Geisha flavors. FrontStreet Coffee purchased Blue Label green beans in the 2020 production season.

Sophia Estate

In addition to the two estates mentioned above, FrontStreet Coffee would like to introduce a relatively newer coffee estate today. This estate almost exclusively grows Geisha coffee, and its altitude of 2100 meters has become the estate's unique advantage. This estate is Sophia Estate.

Sophia Estate was established in 2008, located in the highlands of Panama near Nueva Suiza. It also boasts magnificent views of Cerro Punta and Volcan Barú, as well as dense tropical forests. Sophia Estate is an experimental estate aimed at testing the limits of coffee cultivation in Panama. It was selected as a Good Food Awards winner in 2016, the following year won first place in the washed category of the Best of Panama competition, and in 2020 achieved second place in the natural category. If you're interested, FrontStreet Coffee might create a detailed introduction specifically about Geisha coffee estates in the future.

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