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Hacienda La Esmeralda Red Label Geisha | 2018 Auction Geisha, Rare Yeast Anaerobic Fermentation Process

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/27, Hacienda La Esmeralda Red Label Geisha from Panama's Boquete region, featuring rare yeast anaerobic fermentation. This premium coffee (2018 Auction Geisha) comes from Cañas Verdes Lot at 1800+ meters elevation, showcasing the renowned Geisha variety born in the mountain town of Boquete.

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La Esmeralda Red Label Geisha

Country: Panama

Region: Boquete

Estate: La Esmeralda Estate - Cañas Verdes Lot

Altitude: 1800+ meters

Processing Method: Yeast Anaerobic Fermentation

Variety: Geisha

Region Introduction

La Esmeralda Estate, Boquete

What is Red Label Geisha?

Premium - Red Label [Auction Batches]

⇒ Grown at altitudes of 1,600-1,800 meters

⇒ Cupping score of 90 points or above

⇒ High-quality Geisha beans

⇒ Geisha beans harvested from the highest areas of the Boquete mountains, possessing special, bright floral aromas and citrus notes

⇒ Coffee at this grade will be processed into natural or washed green beans

⇒ Only available through annual global auction events

The renowned Geisha variety originated in the small mountain town of Boquete on the eastern slopes at La Esmeralda Estate.

Boquete, with its beautiful mountains and pristine waters, has long been a sanctuary for European and American elites seeking peaceful retirement. The town has a population of 20,000, with over 2,000 high-level expatriate residents. The coffee farm owners here are fluent in English and European languages, possess a global perspective, and have the highest proportion of PhDs and Master's degrees among all coffee-producing countries.

As early as 1904, during the construction of the Panama Canal, large numbers of European engineers and senior managers were hired to work in the hot eastern Panama City. After the Panama Canal was completed in 1917, these highly educated professionals, especially those from Northern Europe, fell in love with Boquete, Panama. With its cool climate and spring-like weather year-round, many stayed here, bought farms, retired, and enjoyed the misty, fragrant living environment.

The Discovery Story of Geisha

In 1980, Price introduced Caturra and Catuai varieties and established a washing processing plant in 1994. In 1996, Price heard that coffee from a neighboring estate in Jaramillo was excellent with strong citrus flavors, so he purchased the Jaramillo coffee farm and incorporated it into La Esmeralda Estate. Initially, the Peterson family mixed coffee from both estates for sale, but always noticed a faint orange-honey fragrance and elegant character that was distinctly different from the typical berry flavors of Central American coffees.

One day in 2002, Price's son Daniel had an insight that this flavor profile must come from a single variety in a specific growing area, so he began cup-testing all varieties from different growing areas within the estate one by one.

The cupping results revealed that the captivating floral-honey fragrance and citrus notes actually came from the windbreak forest on the outskirts of Jaramillo. This area had the highest altitude, approximately 1500-2000 meters, where the coffee trees were tall and sparse with unremarkable appearance. The vertical spacing between branches was larger than typical coffee trees, and the distance between flowering and fruiting nodes on each branch reached 7.26 centimeters. This indicated that the same branch unit had less dense flowering and fruiting areas, making it a low-yield variety with low economic value. This likely led the previous owner to relegate it to the most remote and windy area, serving as a windbreak for other high-yield varieties with shorter, denser internodal spacing.

Their conclusion was: the unknown coffee trees in the windbreak forest possessed unique genes and needed to be cultivated at altitudes above 1500 meters, tempered by cold moonlight, mountain winds, and mountain air to develop their extraordinary flavor profile.

Typical coffee varieties cannot survive in the Jaramillo windbreak forest due to strong winds and low temperatures, but these tall, sparse coffee trees thrived. The coffee cherries were also plumper than typical varieties and less likely to be blown off by wind. Although yields were sparse, the orange-honey fragrance was intoxicating. What variety could this be?

After consulting with various experts, they learned that this variety was called Geisha, introduced in 1963 by Don Pachi, an Italian who worked for the Ministry of Agriculture. However, because it was planted at altitudes around 1200 meters, yields were low, beans were small, and flavor was poor, leading to its abandonment.

Large-scale processing equipment

In 2004, Geoff, a green bean purchasing expert for Intelligentsia Coffee, served as a BOP judge. He recalled: Among the 25 Panama specialty coffee finalists, one particular entry puzzled the judges. It emitted citrus aromas, lime acidity, cane sugar sweetness, jasmine fragrance... filling the room. When sipped, it was like fireworks blooming in the mouth with the splendor of a hundred flowers. Even Ethiopian Yirgacheffe couldn't have such intense orange-honey notes. The champion was determined. Estate owner Price explained to everyone that this coffee was the Geisha variety, and from that moment, Geisha gained worldwide fame.

Coffee trees under shade

It can be said that European engineers who retired a century ago were the pioneers of today's livestock and coffee cultivation industries in Boquete. The advanced washing processing plants and agricultural facilities here were all masterpieces of those engineers.

La Esmeralda Estate

La Esmeralda Estate is located on a corner of Baru Volcano, so before becoming famous, coffee beans from this region were often named after Baru Mountain. The surrounding areas of Boquete are scenic with many leisure hotels, villas, and vacation estates built along important rivers like Rio Caldera. La Esmeralda Estate is located in Jaramillo on the right side of this river, and later expanded to grow coffee in the higher altitude areas of Cañas Verdes on the left side of the river. We must thank Rudolph Peterson for his decision to purchase this property back then.

The Peterson Family

First-generation owner of La Esmeralda Estate: Rudolph A. Peterson

In 1964, Swedish-American financier Rudolph A. Peterson retired, moved to Panama, and purchased La Esmeralda Estate in Boquete, primarily focusing on dairy farming. Having served as President of Bank of America, he was a major figure in the financial world at the time. Rudolph bought Hacienda La Esmeralda for vacation and eventual retirement use, likely not anticipating that this estate would become world-famous and even become representative of Panama's specialty coffee estates. In 1973, his son Price Peterson earned a PhD in neurochemistry in the United States but returned to Boquete to help his father manage the farm. After taking over, Price segmented the market into three major brands based on altitude, microclimate, cupping performance, and cultivated varieties (Esmeralda Special, Diamond Mountain grows, Palmyra), and added Geisha in 2012, making it four brands.

La Esmeralda Estate includes 4 farms: Cañas Verdes, El Velo, Jaramillo, and Palmira. All coffee beans are sent to processing facilities at these 4 farms. The first farm purchased by the Peterson family was Palmira.

Esmeralda Special is an independent auction organized by La Esmeralda Estate itself, featuring exclusively Geisha varieties. Each production area is named and further subdivided into small batches for auction. Only Geisha batches that La Esmeralda Estate offers for independent auction can use the Esmeralda Special name. Starting from 2013, Esmeralda Special has had nine batches.

Geisha participated in auctions in 2004, and bidding wars had already pushed Geisha prices to astonishing levels. Looking back at the 2017 Panama specialty coffee auction, a natural processed Geisha from La Esmeralda Estate reached an astronomical price of $601 per pound, almost double the previous auction. This means that one kilogram of green beans cost as much as 8,900 RMB.

This year, the 2018 Panama Coffee Competition champion was also a Geisha produced by La Esmeralda Estate, with an auction price of $340 per pound, won by HARU International Corp.

This auction's Geisha categories:

Yeast Processing (ES-Y): Four LOT batches, nine boxes of beans

Natural Processing (ES-N): Nine natural processed batches, thirty-five boxes of beans

Washed Processing (ES-W): Two traditional washed batches, six boxes of beans

The champion sold for $340 per pound, belonging to the yeast category Lot ES-Y-1

Natural category, highest at $109 per pound, ES-N-9-1

Washed category, highest at $105 per pound, ES-W-1-5

Lot ES-Y-1

Harvest Date: January 31, 2018

Processing Method: Fermented with yeast for 48 hours, then washed, followed by 4 days of drying on raised beds

Altitude: 1600 meters

Region: Cañas Verdes, Palmira

Estate: Cañas Verdes

Variety: Green Tip Geisha

Geisha Varieties: Green Tip Geisha and Bronze Tip Geisha. Green Tip Geisha is characterized by floral aromatics, strong acidity, and sweetness. In contrast, Bronze Tip Geisha emphasizes body and sweetness with less noticeable acidity.

El Velo Farm

El Velo Farm was acquired by La Esmeralda Estate in 2012 and is the newest farm in the estate. El Velo Farm often processes micro-batch coffee beans and sells them in small quantities through direct trade.

For example, coffee cherries from Prueba 4 were harvested from the Burton plot of El Velo Farm. This batch of coffee beans underwent titanium dioxide immersion processing. First, mature red coffee cherries are pulped, then the pulped cherries are placed in a sealed container filled with titanium dioxide for 62 hours. Afterward, the coffee cherries are dried on a concrete patio for 32 hours (still with mucilage remaining, so it's honey processed), with patio temperature controlled between 17°C to 24°C. Prueba 4 is a special innovative batch from La Esmeralda Estate's special reserve plots.

Processing Method Introduction

This Red Label uses yeast processing. From any perspective, adding yeast during the fermentation process is a bold approach.

According to estate manager Rachel Peterson, this "yeast fermentation method" is La Esmeralda Estate's attempt to observe how Geisha coffee performs when fermented with yeast inoculation.

Processing process: Fully mature red fruits are hand-picked, undersized beans are screened out, and after water flotation selection, they are soaked in clean water for approximately 48 hours with yeast added, followed by sun drying. They are spread 1-2 layers thick on sun-drying beds for 4 days of sun exposure, with average temperatures: Daytime: 16°C - 23°C, Nighttime: 10°C - 15°C, completing a distinctly unique flavor profile!

After cup-testing this yeast-processed Red Label, we were delighted to find that this method enhanced Geisha coffee's performance in all aspects (including aroma, body, acidity, and aftertaste), and it's very different from natural processed Geisha. Overall, it's closer to anaerobic fermentation. Geisha processed this way has excellent aroma and flavor characteristics, smoothing out the harshness and excessive acidity of washed coffee while bringing balance and rich layers, plus adding red wine-like flavors.

Green Bean Analysis

Geisha green beans possess a beautiful blue-green color with a jade-like warm texture. They smell of fresh grass, peach, berry notes, and the unique milky sweetness of oolong tea that most coffee beans lack. It seems that aroma and flavor require associative thinking, but the faint tea aroma is clearly perceptible to us.

Roasting Analysis

How should one roast Geisha beans?

To fully express the character of Geisha, special attention must be paid to roasting. Geisha is generally grown at high altitudes above 1500 meters. We have beans from 1700 meters - hard, high-density beans that are full in form, medium in size, thick and long with pointed ends.

To highlight the characteristics and aromatics of these beans, light roasting is preferred as it better expresses the beans' inherent qualities. Too dark a roast would damage the floral aromas and fruit acidity. Of course, this should also be adjusted based on the coffee bean characteristics and the roaster's understanding of the beans themselves.

Personal experience: During roasting, pay attention that the Geisha roasting curve should not be too long, otherwise flavors will become dull. After first crack, the temperature rise should not be too high. Geisha beans have pointed ends that easily develop black spots. A temperature rise below 6°C would be better. Light roasting better reveal the tea rose aroma.

Roasting Analysis (Detailed)

Roasting machine: Yangjia 600g semi-direct flame

Preheat to 170°C, drum loaded, damper at 3. After 30 seconds, adjust heat to 140°C, damper unchanged. Return to temperature at 1'27", adjust heat to 120°C when beans turn yellow and grass aroma completely disappears, dehydration complete. Adjust heat to 100°C, damper to 4.

At 7'40", ugly wrinkles and black spots appear on bean surface, toast aroma distinctly changes to coffee aroma - this can be defined as the prelude to first crack. Listen carefully for the sound of first crack. At 8'05", first crack begins, reduce heat to 90°C, adjust damper to 4 (heat adjustment must be very careful, not so low that cracking stops). Develop for 1'28" after first crack, drop at 188°C.

Cupping results: Refined, soft acidity on entry, with sweetness appearing quickly on the tongue and lasting long. Clean, bright mouthfeel like black tea. Aromas of roses, honeysuckle, sweet potato, grapefruit, lemon, black tea, and cane sugar with clear layering and long aftertaste.

Brewing Recommendations

Recommended brewing method: Pour-over

Grind size: 3.5 (Fuji R440 Japan)

Water temperature: 91~92°C

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

35g water for bloom, bloom time 30s

分段：Pour water to 100ml, pause, then slowly pour to 225ml

即 30-100-95

So everyone thinks Geisha is expensive...

This year's Red Label Geisha is reasonably priced. In 2018, La Esmeralda Red Label Geisha auctioned for $340 per pound, while other auction Geishas ranged from $80-100 per pound. Looking back, the annual 2018 Red Label Geisha auction results are out! First place at $340 per pound! Geisha's extremely low production is just one excuse for its high price. The truly captivating reason for Geisha's exceptional value is its unique, alluring coffee flavor profile. At FrontStreet Coffee in Guangzhou, we obtained 3kg of Red Label Natural Geisha and yeast-processed Red Label Geisha this year. A cup of Red Label Natural Geisha costs 75 yuan/cup, which is quite affordable. Limited quantity, haha.