Janson Estate Geisha | The Champagne of Coffee, Karl Janson's Janson Estate Geisha Legend Story

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Panama Janson Estate Geisha

Estate: Janson Estate
Region: Volcan Region
Variety: Geisha
Processing: Natural
Altitude: 1750m
Annual Rainfall: 3000mm
Average Temperature: 20°C
Soil: Volcanic soil
Harvest: Hand-picked

FrontStreet Coffee Flavor Profile: Delicate berry notes, clean mouthfeel, honey, and lychee flavors

About Janson Estate

In 2004, the Peterson family of Panama first introduced the Geisha variety to the world, and since then, the international coffee community has been captivated by Geisha, calling it the "champagne of coffee." In 2013, when the Specialty Coffee Association of Panama (SCAP) awarded the Best of Panama coffee award, there was a new contender—Carl Janson's Janson Estate Geisha.

Unique Microclimate

The microclimate of Panama's highlands is the most important resource that makes Panama's unique coffee one-of-a-kind. Panama's environment from east to west allows cold air currents to flow through the central mountains and converge above 6,500 feet, creating various microclimates in the Boquete and Volcán–Candela regions, making them the main producing areas of Panama's unique coffee. These unique coffees are cultivated in the nutrient-rich, balanced soil of the Barú Volcano region. The appropriate microclimate, soil, temperature, and altitude of these highlands are suitable for the planting, cultivation, and harvesting of various unique coffees.

Mr. Janson, the estate owner, is originally from Switzerland.

When he came to Panama, he fell deeply in love with the Volcan area, a place surrounded by mountains similar to his homeland Switzerland. After marrying his wife Margaret, he purchased this estate in 1940. Carl Janson, an enthusiastic rancher, was also the first person to introduce Angus cattle to Panama.

Janson Estate Geisha

Geisha, Also Known as "Geisha"

The pronunciation of Geisha is the same as the Japanese word "geisha," so it has another name as "Geisha coffee." Because the tree variety is taller than ordinary coffee trees, it was originally planted in a small area within the estate and used as a windbreak.

Geisha, as a Variety

First, the Geisha variety was discovered in the Geisha forest of Ethiopia in 1931 and later sent to the Coffee Research Institute in Kenya. In 1936, it was introduced to Uganda and Tanzania; in 1953, Costa Rica introduced it.

For a long time, not many people paid attention to Geisha. Until one day, Don Pachi initially brought it from the small town of GESHA in southwestern Ethiopia to Costa Rica, after which Geisha entered Panama along the southern route. Panama's Hacienda La Esmeralda separated it from other varieties and won the National Coffee Competition championship, officially bringing Geisha into everyone's spotlight.

Geisha coffee is particularly picky about its growing environment, requiring high altitude, cloud and shade coverage, fertile soil, and sufficient accumulated temperature.

In 2013, the Best of Panama award presented by the Specialty Coffee Association of Panama (SCAP) had a new contender! It was Carl Janson's Janson Estate Geisha variety! Also known as the "champagne of the coffee world." Full jasmine fragrance and delicate berry notes, clean mouthfeel, honey, and lychee flavors.

Geisha has a full sweet taste, an extremely clean mouthfeel, and rich aromas that range from berries and citrus to mango, papaya, and peach flavors. A very distinct bergamot-like aftertaste is also its typical cupping attribute. To date, Geisha has always been the champion among coffee varieties.

Janson Geisha is relatively rarely heard of domestically because Janson Estate focuses mainly on domestic sales and does not export.

Under these conditions of high altitude, nutrient-rich volcanic soil, abundant rainfall, and suitable temperature.

Janson Estate has gradually become the second-largest Geisha producer among Panama's estates, with 50% of the estate planted with Geisha variety coffee trees.

The harvested coffee beans are called "ox-blood coffee cherries" and have particularly high sweetness.

To maintain the balance of the natural environment, Janson Estate simultaneously operates livestock farming and coffee cultivation. Currently, three generations of the family jointly operate this estate. Today, Carl's four sons run the farm: Carl, Michael, Richie, and Peter. Carl manages the Janson Family coffee roasting facility and part of the coffee farm that Michael runs. Richie and Peter assist with overall management.

With an average altitude of about 1,700 meters, the estate is covered with nutrient-rich volcanic soil, abundant rainfall, and suitable temperatures. The Janson family's managers all follow environmentally friendly management principles, adopting 100% sustainable cultivation methods, and have specially built processing plants to use coffee cherries as farm fertilizer after processing.

Only 2,000 Geisha plants are planted per hectare to ensure sufficient soil between plants; half of the estate is planted with Geisha, ranking second in Panama's Geisha production. Each batch of green beans has a highly recognizable batch number and is 100% traceable.

This estate not only has a dedicated processing plant to handle its coffee cherries but also puts great effort into roasting to improve the reference value of cupping results.

These efforts have increasingly improved the quality of Janson Estate's coffee beans, with results that earned Janson Estate Geisha a second-place finish in the Panama (BOP) competition.

In recent years, coffee from the Volcan region has gradually emerged in the specialty market, with quite a few estates entering and even winning the Best of Panama competition. The Volcan region generally has less average annual rainfall than Boquete, and its geographical location on the west side of Barú Volcano also gives coffee from this region stronger dried fruit flavors, sweetness, and aroma compared to the Boquete region. In the early days, the Volcan area mostly grew fruits, vegetables, and other cash crops, with only a few farmers growing coffee. Among the pioneers of coffee cultivation in the Volcan region were the well-known Hartmann family and the Janson family in Panama.

FrontStreet Coffee Green Bean Analysis

Geisha coffee green beans have a very beautiful blue-green color. Geisha green beans are relatively slender with pointed ends.

They have a jade-like warm texture, and smell of fresh grass, peach, berry notes, and the unique milky sweetness of oolong tea that most coffee beans don't have. It seems that aroma and taste require associative imagination, but the faint tea aroma is something we can clearly feel.

FrontStreet Coffee Roasting Analysis

This coffee has relatively large beans and high density, absorbing more heat during the roasting process, and the Maillard reaction process is also faster. In the first batch of roasting, I used a higher drop temperature of 200°C, continuously applying heat before the coffee beans dehydrated and turned yellow to ensure sufficient heat would persist until the end of roasting.

Finally, I chose an entry temperature of 200°C with relatively reduced heat, gradually increasing the heat during the roasting process as needed. With this operating method, the coffee's dehydration time was longer compared to the first batch, with a temperature increase rate of 6-8°C every thirty seconds.

Geisha Roasting

To highlight the characteristics and aroma of this bean, FrontStreet Coffee uses light roasting, which can better bring out the bean's inherent characteristics. Too dark would damage the floral aroma and fruit acidity. Of course, this should also be adjusted according to the coffee bean's characteristics and the roaster's understanding of the bean itself.

During the roasting stage, smaller initial heat of 140°C and a slower roasting rhythm are used to express this coffee's multi-layered flavors.

FrontStreet Coffee Roasting Machine: Yangjia 600g Semi-Direct Heat

Preheat the roaster to 200°C, set the damper to 3.5. After 30 seconds, adjust heat to 160°C, set damper to 3. Return temperature point at 1'32", adjust heat once at 153.3°C when the bean surface turns yellow, the grassy smell completely disappears, dehydration is complete, adjust heat to 140°C, set damper to 4.

At 9'00", ugly wrinkles and black spots appear on the bean surface, toast aroma clearly turns to coffee aroma, can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this time, listen carefully for the sound of first crack. At 9'47", first crack begins, reduce heat to 50°C, fully open damper to 5 (be very careful when adjusting heat, don't reduce it to the point where there's no cracking sound). After first crack, develop for 2'40", drop at 197.1°C.

FrontStreet Coffee Cupping Results

FrontStreet Coffee Flavor: Maple flavor, lemon citrus flavor, apple flavor, rose flavor, black chocolate fruit aroma, pomegranate, ripe grapes, peach, and dark berry flavors, multi-layered sweet and sour notes.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommended Brewing Method: Pour-Over

Grind Size: 3.5 (Japan Fuji R440)
Water Temperature: 91°C

Cake cup, 15g coffee, water temperature 91°C, grind 3.5, water-to-coffee ratio close to 1:15.

30g water for bloom, bloom time 30s.

The hot water in the pour-over kettle draws circles clockwise around the center of the filter cup. Start timing when brewing begins, pour water to 30g, then stop pouring and wait 35 seconds for the second pour.

For the second pour, same as before, draw circles clockwise around the center of the filter cup. The water flow should not hit the area where coffee grounds meet the filter paper to avoid channeling effect. The cake cup is an immersion-style brewer, so 91°C water can well bring out Geisha's flavors.

分段: Pour to 120ml, pause, then slowly pour to 225ml. That is: 30-120-95.

Geisha's Unique Flavor

What makes Geisha special is its very obvious and distinct floral and citrus flavors, extremely high clarity, soft and elegant acidity, persistent cotton-like sweetness, and premium black tea mouthfeel.

Among many coffees, floral fragrance and intense tropical fruit sweetness, unique floral and fruit aromas are consistent characteristics of Geisha.

Sweetness: ☆☆☆☆

Purchase link: https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z10.5-c-s.w4002-15673140460.38.41ea6d59EUZqHD&id=549191402890

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473