What is the world's most expensive coffee bean? How much does a cup of the most expensive coffee cost?

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Geisha is the holy grail for many coffee enthusiasts, with its elegant and refined captivating even seasoned coffee lovers accustomed to the rich flavors of Mandheling. As the saying goes, "you get what you pay for," so how much does a cup of this high-quality Geisha coffee cost?

FrontStreet Coffee's Emerald Red Label Geisha fresh-ground pour-over coffee costs 75 yuan per cup, allowing you to experience the complex fruit sweetness and sourness from fine-grading and natural processing. Another FrontStreet Coffee offering, the Emerald Green Label Geisha pour-over coffee, costs 60 yuan per cup. The washed processed Geisha showcases more white floral notes and Geisha's unique orange fragrance and honey sweetness. To help everyone better understand this "precious" coffee variety, FrontStreet Coffee will continue sharing knowledge about Geisha.

Geisha Coffee Variety

As we all know, coffee flavor is closely related to its growing environment. Geisha variety coffee beans are quite picky about their growing conditions, only producing coffee beans with rich floral aromas and refined fruit acids in regions with higher altitudes, cloud shade or numerous shade trees, and fertile soil. Geisha/Gesha, due to its pronunciation similar to "geisha" in Japanese, is sometimes called "geisha" in certain regions. Around 2006, Mr. Yuan from Camerun Coffee first imported Panamanian Geisha to China and named it "Guixia" (Geisha), 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 being born with a silver spoon.

Panamanian Geisha coffee beans are world-renowned, and Panama's entire 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 nurture the coffee trees, producing flavorful, high-quality coffee beans. Many different microclimates also help produce coffee beans with various flavor characteristics, and La Esmeralda Estate is also located in this region. The neighboring Volcán region has recently become another origin for cultivating high-quality Geisha coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee previously featured Geisha from Deborah Estate, which grows in the Volcán region. According to FrontStreet Coffee's research, Panama's Deborah Estate is situated high in the Chiriquí volcanoes, making it one of Panama's highest and most remote coffee farms. At these altitudes, nighttime temperatures can drop to 10°C. The extreme altitude and lower temperatures slow down the trees' metabolism. These low temperatures reaching 10°C allow trees to push more sugars into the cherries during production. Additionally, Deborah Estate enjoys ideal rainfall, averaging 2200 millimeters annually.

Deborah Estate is shrouded in tropical rainforest clouds for most of the year, with abundant rare flora and fauna undisturbed under the canopy. The estate's cultivation process uses no gas-powered machinery, irritating chemical pesticides, or herbicides. It actively maintains the natural growing environment, using natural organic fertilizers combined with organic weeds to maintain ecological balance between coffee trees and unwanted shrubs.

Due to the increased altitude, insect problems are also minimized. These positive benefits are also felt in management, translating to lower costs and reduced production fluctuations. Such an excellent geographical environment has created Deborah Estate's exceptional coffee quality and rich flavors.

FrontStreet Coffee: 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: Distinct white floral notes, pineapple and lactic drink-like sweetness and acidity, full-bodied, 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. Later, his son Price resigned from his medical practice to help manage the farm, introducing Caturra and Catuai coffee varieties in 1987. In 1994, they established a washing plant, gaining their own coffee processing facility. In 1996, they acquired the nearby Jaramillo estate, which had superior geographical conditions and good-flavored original coffee varieties, incorporating it into La Esmeralda Estate.

Jaramillo caught the attention of the Peterson father and son precisely because its originally cultivated coffee beans carried pleasant orange and floral-fruit aromas, different from Panama's original 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 as windbreaks. The Petersons discovered and decided to cultivate these coffee trees separately.

After winning the 2004 Panama Best of Panama (BOP) competition, it made waves. Expert identification later revealed that this coffee variety was Ethiopian Geisha. Subsequently, the Peterson family focused most of their energy on developing infrastructure to support excellent batch separation and fine processing.

Currently, La Esmeralda Estate has three main estates cultivating Geisha: El Velo, Canas Verdes, and Jaramillo. In 1996, they acquired the nearby Jaramillo estate with superior geographical conditions and good-flavored original coffee varieties. El Velo was acquired by La Esmeralda Estate in 2012. FrontStreet Coffee believes that acquiring high-altitude estates with good production, as La Esmeralda Estate did, was a unique decision at the time, enabling La Esmeralda Estate to occupy a significant position in the coffee industry.

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

Red Label Geisha coffee beans are grown at altitudes of 1600-1800 meters, with cupping scores above 90 points, mainly from the Jaramillo and Canas Verdes regions. Standard batches have either washed or natural processing methods, while Red Label batches can only be obtained through global auctions. Panama La Esmeralda Estate Geisha holds independent auctions, with Geisha batches grown in designated parcels and used for auctions being the auction Red Labels.

FrontStreet Coffee: La Esmeralda Estate Red Label Geisha Coffee Beans

Region: Boquete

Estate: La Esmeralda Estate El Velo

Altitude: 1600-1800m

Variety: Geisha

Processing: Natural

Customers often ask, "Is auction Red Label better than regular Red Label?" Actually, non-auction Red Labels come from the same parcels as auction Red Labels; the difference is whether they participate in auctions. 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 to try, FrontStreet Coffee's non-auction batch Panama La Esmeralda Estate Red Label Geisha coffee beans are also an excellent choice. This grade of Geisha uses natural or washed processing, with special, bright floral and citrus aromas.

Although Green Label batches don't participate in auctions, the coffee bean quality remains excellent. Green Label Geisha coffee beans are grown at altitudes of 1600-1800 meters, mainly mixed from different parcels in Jaramillo, Canas Verdes, and other areas.

Due to the mixed-parcel model, sometimes Green Label and Red Label can have very similar flavors. Although Green Label Geisha coffee beans don't reach the high grade of Red Label Geisha, they have high cleanliness, overall jasmine tea flavor tendencies, high acidity, and natural-processed Green Label Geisha has good sweetness, pleasant sweet-sour balance, evoking passionfruit and floral tea. Green Label Geisha batches also have both washed and natural processing.

FrontStreet Coffee: La Esmeralda Estate Geisha Green Label Coffee Beans

Country: Panama

Region: Boquete

Estate: La Esmeralda Estate

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: Red Label Geisha coffee beans can be traced back to the specific small plots where the coffee grew; Green Label Geisha is a blend, so it cannot be traced. La Esmeralda Estate's Green Label Geisha coffee beans use a blending model, so detailed plot specifications are not provided. Because of this, FrontStreet Coffee sometimes finds that Green Label and Red Label can have extremely similar flavors.

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 parcels: Jaramillo, Canas Verdes, and El Velo. The flavor has subtle floral notes and fruit acidity, with a body relatively less full than the other two Geisha grades. However, it wins on reasonable pricing and possesses the traditional Panamanian Geisha flavors.

For a long time before, Blue Label Geisha actually didn't have natural processing. It wasn't until 2020 that La Esmeralda Estate officially launched natural-processed Geisha coffee. FrontStreet Coffee was the first to purchase this batch of Blue Label Geisha. Compared to washed Blue Label, natural Blue Label shows more passionfruit aroma, subtle tea flower fragrance, and clear, bright citrus flavors. Notably, starting from 2021, La Esmeralda Estate adjusted its Geisha coffee grading. Beginning with the 2021 harvest season, La Esmeralda Estate cancelled the Blue Label batch (Geisha 1500), and the 2021 "Geisha 1500" was sold under a new trademark "Las Rocas" (Volcanic Rock Geisha). Therefore, friends missing the Blue Label need not worry—the Blue Label just changed its name. FrontStreet Coffee confirmed through cupping that Volcanic Rock Geisha tastes the same as Blue Label.

What Price is Considered Normal 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. This price is below the market average, which leads many customers to worry whether the beans are fake. Regarding this issue, FrontStreet Coffee has been deeply cultivating for 9 years, has stable green bean partners, and operates its own roasting factory, naturally controlling costs. Friends familiar with green bean channels should understand this better. Moreover, La Esmeralda Estate's Geisha is extremely distinctive in both appearance and flavor, not easily imitated by other coffees.

Panamanian Geisha Coffee Bean Brewing Suggestions

FrontStreet Coffee considers that this Geisha coffee bean is lightly roasted, and light-roasted beans have lower coffee substance dissolution rates than dark-roasted ones. Therefore, to ensure full extraction of Geisha flavors, we use higher water temperature for brewing and also choose a finer grind size. Fans may have noticed that FrontStreet Coffee has always recommended a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, while for La Esmeralda Estate's Geisha it's 1:16. This is because slightly increasing the coffee-to-water ratio helps better experience Geisha's layered complexity and flavors.

Dripper: V60#01

Water Temperature: 91°C

Coffee Amount: 15g

Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15

Grind Size: Medium-fine (78% passing through China standard #20 sieve)

Panamanian Geisha Coffee Bean Brewing Technique

FrontStreet Coffee uses segmented extraction, also called three-stage brewing. Use 30g of water for 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. (Counting from bloom start) Extraction time is 2'00".

Panama La Esmeralda Estate Red Label Geisha Coffee Bean Flavor Description: Bright rose and citrus aromas, brown rice, berries, apricot, complex fruits, honey, with thick juice sensation, rich flavor layers, noticeable sweetness.

Panama La Esmeralda Estate Green Label Geisha Coffee Bean Flavor Description: Rich jasmine floral aroma, high sweetness, citrus, berries, juice sensation, cream, green tea, orange peel, cantaloupe, overall rich flavor layers, floral and citrus-lasting aftertaste.

Panama La Esmeralda Estate Volcanic Rock Geisha Coffee Bean Flavor Description: Jasmine, lemon, citrus, honey, oolong tea, rich juice sensation, distinct honey notes.

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