How Good Are Colombian Geisha Coffee Beans? Are They Delicious? How Much Do Colombian Coffee Beans Cost?

Geisha

Geisha is pronounced the same as the Japanese word for geisha, which is why it is also written Geisha coffee. Because the tree grows taller than typical coffee trees, it was originally planted in a small plot on the estate and used as a windbreak. To enter the annual Best of Panama competition, the estate owner's son searched through every coffee variety on the farm for testing, giving Geisha its chance to debut. It went on to compete in coffee competitions around the world, winning a total of eleven championships.

The Origins of Geisha

The Geisha variety was discovered in the Geisha forest of Ethiopia in 1931 and then sent to the Coffee Research Institute in Kenya. In 1936 it was introduced to Uganda and Tanzania, and in 1953 to Costa Rica. For a long time few people paid it attention, until Don Pachi first brought it from the small town of GESHA in southwestern Ethiopia to Costa Rica. Geisha then entered Panama along the southern route, where Panama's Hacienda La Esmeralda separated it from other varieties and won the National Coffee Competition championship.

Geisha has a full, sweet flavor, an extremely clean taste, and rich aromas that range from berries and citrus to mango, papaya, and peach. A very distinct bergamot-like aftertaste is another typical cupping attribute. To this day, Geisha remains the champion among coffee varieties.

La Esperanza Estate

La Esperanza Estate owns four farms in total (Esperanza, Las Margaritas, Cerro Azul, and Potosi). Its farms have won the Best of Panama championship (2008) and runner-up (2009). In 2012 it achieved an incredible feat, taking 2nd, 3rd, and 7th places in the SCAA Coffee of the Year top ten with three different products. In the GFA (Good Food Award), La Esperanza also became the only award-winning estate outside the Ethiopia, Kenya, and Panama regions.

La Esperanza is somewhat different from other estates: it has a PhD plant pathologist, three professional cuppers, and 100 full-time employees, and currently manages six subordinate estates. It is owned by the Herrera brothers. In fact, their grandfather operated a coffee farm in the Trujillo region of Colombia that gradually declined. The two brothers left Colombia but never gave up the dream of returning home to run a coffee estate.

La Esperanza's experimentation and innovation with varieties seem endless, as it continuously tests new ones. Besides the original organic Caturra that occupies most of its area, it grows Geisha, organic Geisha, Mocha, Bourbon (including red, yellow, and the different Tekisik Bourbons), Laurina, Pacamara, San Bernardo, and Pache — truly bringing a winery's attitude toward grape varieties into coffee. After Geisha, the Pacamara, Bourbon, and even Laurina produced by La Esperanza continue to create amazement and admiration in the specialty coffee world.

Colombia La Esperanza Geisha Natural

• Country: Colombia
• Grade: AA TOP
• Region: Cauca Valley
• Altitude: 1800 meters
• Processing Method: Natural
• Variety: Geisha
• Estate: La Esperanza Estate
• Flavor: Berries, honey, vanilla, sweet fruit juice aroma

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

To know Gesha, most people start with the variety that made it famous: Panama's Hacienda La Esmeralda. FrontStreet carries both of its tiers — the Red Label, officially "Esmeralda Special," grown at 1,600-1,800 meters, where each lot must cup above 90 points, carries its own number and comes from a single small plot, and the Green Label, "Private Collection," which blends several plots to express the estate's signature high-altitude Gesha profile at a more accessible price and therefore excellent value.

For a gentler introduction, FrontStreet's Panama Boquete Gesha is the classic entry point, delivering the familiar Panama orange-blossom honey sweetness, an oolong-tea body, and delicate fruit acidity with clear layers. Turning to Ethiopia, the birthplace of the variety, FrontStreet's Geisha Village Gold Label is the 1931 Gesha variety — about 10% of the village's output and its top non-auction coffee — while the Red Label is the Gori Gesha variety, roughly 15% of production and scoring 88 or above on the SCA 100-point scale as a traceable single-terroir series.

Colombia's own Gesha, like La Esperanza's natural lot above, tends to show berries, honey, vanilla and sweet fruit-juice aromas. If you would like to explore the variety further at an everyday price, FrontStreet Strawberry Candy is a Gesha blend of a Costa Rica honey-process coffee and a Panama washed Gesha; it keeps the elegant florals and sweet fruit and works for pour-over, a moka pot, an espresso machine, or cold brew.