How to Taste Geisha Coffee? How to Brew Geisha Coffee and Recommended Geisha Coffee Bean Brands

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FrontStreet Coffee's Geisha Coffee Beans, Also Known as Geisha

Geisha is pronounced the same as the Japanese word for geisha, hence it is also called Geisha coffee; because the coffee 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 Kenya's coffee research institute. It was introduced to Uganda and Tanzania in 1936, and to Costa Rica in 1953.

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

Elida Estate's natural processed Geisha sold for $275.70 per pound.

Geisha coffee is particularly picky about its growing environment, requiring high altitude, cloud and shade cover, fertile soil, and sufficient accumulated temperature. The average altitude is 1625 meters, with an annual average temperature between 16°C and 25°C, and average rainfall of approximately 3500 millimeters. The plantation uses semi-shaded cultivation, with tree varieties all from local unique species.

For example, Aurora Coffee Estate's Iron Man is located in the northwest corner of Chiriqui Province, Panama, with part of it being high-altitude Hass avocado trees. (Aurora Estate owner Robert's natural processed Geisha won the 2016 Best of Panama championship. Iron Man Geisha is a nickname for Panama's Aurora Geisha)

By chance, the son of Panama's Hacienda La Esmeralda owner searched all coffee tree varieties in the estate for testing to participate in the annual Best of Panama competition, giving Geisha the opportunity to enter everyone's attention. Since then, it has been unstoppable, participating in various world coffee competitions and has now collected eleven championship trophies.

Expensive Price

Geisha is expensive... Shocking! The latest world's most expensive coffee ranking shows the top-priced coffee at $5000 per kilogram.

Of course, extremely low yield is just an excuse for the high price. The truly fascinating thing is the flavor that surpasses all coffees in the world, which is the most important reason for Geisha's exceptional value. Currently, Geisha is mainly from Panama and Colombia, and recently Geisha Village has also emerged.

Panama's Jade Estate--Hacienda La Esmeralda's Geisha is the king of specialty coffee, commonly known as "Red Label Geisha," with high quality and naturally expensive price. It takes your taste buds to an ethereal world. Red Label Geisha is harvested from areas above 1600 meters altitude and participates in global auction bidding every May.

Jade Estate is located on the slopes of Baru Volcano, the highest peak in Boquete, western Panama. The mild climate, fertile volcanic soil, appropriate rainfall, and varied microclimates provide naturally perfect conditions for coffee cultivation. In 2017, Panama's Jade Estate Geisha won the natural process championship again... this should be the 18th championship trophy. To stand out among many strong competitors year after year, in addition to the delicious genetic characteristics of Geisha beans, excellent coffee estate management as well as harvesting and processing are absolutely essential.

In online public bidding, the results of the 2017 latest season "Best of Panama" auction were announced. The highest price in this auction far exceeded previous price records. The natural processed Geisha from Jade Estate sold for an astonishing $601 per pound, equivalent to 8900 RMB per kilogram. A certain café in Shanghai sold natural processed Geisha at 1000 yuan per cup. The auction price of Red Label Geisha is between 1500-2000 yuan per kilogram. If 15 grams of beans are used to make a cup of coffee, the raw bean cost alone reaches 133 yuan, not including transportation, labor, roasting, and other costs. At FrontStreet Coffee in Guangzhou, I have had a cup of FrontStreet Coffee's Red Label Geisha, which left a deep impression. It's like a cup of fruit tea, priced at 75 yuan per cup. FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Label Geisha is 60 yuan per cup, which is considered relatively affordable.

What are Red, Green, and Blue Labels?

Jade Estate: Red, Green, and Blue Labels

Only FrontStreet Coffee's Geisha coffee beans from Jade Estate have distinctions of [Red Label, Green Label, Blue Label]:

Red Label (Special-Geisha): Collects the top batches from Jade Estate, all planted at altitudes above 1600 meters (even above 1900 meters), with cupping scores above 90 points;

Premier — Red Label [Auction Batches]

→ Planting altitude: 1,600-1,800 meters

→ Cupping score: above 90 points

→ Mainly produced from Jaramillo and Cañas Verdes estates, also the highest quality Geisha beans

→ Geisha beans harvested from the highest reaches of Boquete mountain areas, possessing special, bright floral and citrus aromas

→ Coffee at this level will be processed into natural or washed raw beans

→ Can only be purchased through annual global auction events

Green Label (PrivateCollection-Geisha): Geisha from different plots within Jade's various estates, planted at altitudes of 1600-1800 meters;

Secondary — Green Label [Reserve Batches]

→ Planting altitude: 1,600-1,800 meters

→ Micro-batch blends from three different estates: Jaramillo, Quiel, Cañas Verdes

→ Although not the highest-grade auction beans, Geisha beans at this level still retain the classic flavor of Geisha coffee beans: floral, fruit, citrus acidity, and thick, juicy mouthfeel

→ Selected perfectly ripe coffee fruits create rich sweetness, bright fruit acidity, and delicious flavors

→ Geisha beans at this level also have washed or natural processed raw beans to choose from

Blue Label (Geisha1500): Geisha from Jade's various estates, planted at altitudes above 1500 meters;

Regular — Blue Label [Select Batches]

→ Planting altitude: 1,500 meters

→ Blends from three different estates: Jaramillo, Cañas Verdes, El Velo

→ Slight floral notes, fruit acidity, sweetness, with less full body

→ Geisha beans at this level only have washed processed raw beans

Image source: aroma

Gesha Village, Geisha

The journey of Gesha Village began in 2007 when Adam Overton and Rachel Samuel helped the Ethiopian government shoot a documentary about Ethiopian coffee. During filming, they met Dr. Girma and visited the Gera coffee forest near Jimma. Dr. Girma is a coffee researcher with extensive knowledge about coffee agriculture and farm management. During the documentary process, Rachel rediscovered her home country while Adam was fascinated by the rich history of coffee's origin.

As the entire coffee journey was about to end, they greatly hoped to start their own coffee farm. They saw too much untapped potential and opportunity in Ethiopia's wild coffee forests. Adam and Rachel established Gesha Village Coffee Estate.

Gesha Village Coffee Estate covers a total area of 471 hectares. In 2015, Gesha Village Coffee Estate completed 300 hectares of coffee planting, and added another 50 hectares in 2016. The Geisha selection comes from the native coffee forest (Gori Gesha) 20 kilometers from the estate, which is also the origin of Panama's Geisha variety.

Geisha, Roasting

To highlight the characteristics and aroma of these beans, use light roasting. This roast level can better bring out the beans' inherent characteristics. Too dark would damage the floral aroma and fruit acidity. Of course, this should also be adjusted according to the coffee beans' characteristics and the roaster's understanding of the beans themselves.

Unique Floral and Fruity Aroma

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

How to Properly Taste a Cup of Blue Label Geisha?

Today, taking [FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Label Geisha] as an example, how to properly taste a cup of Geisha:

Tasting single-origin Yirgacheffe is divided into seven steps:

1. Smell the coffee's dry aroma

Washed Geisha has some osmanthus and jasmine floral notes, with pomelo and citrus aromas. Light roasting reveal more tea rose fragrance. When brewing, there's a wet aroma of orange, with more floral scents and rich honey sweetness emerging.

2. Perceive the entry texture

When coffee liquid enters the mouth, stimulating the taste buds, use your tongue to feel the coffee liquid, experiencing the sensation of impact in your mouth.

In professional coffee tasting, this indicator is also called mouthfeel, visually explained as water versus syrup or milk. Syrup and milk have thicker textures than water. Blue Label Geisha (light roast) tastes very watery, while natural processed Geisha has a full, rich texture, which can also be understood as a viscosity.

Smoothness refers to the smooth sensation, similar to drinking milk. Usually very smooth coffee, when held in the mouth briefly and swallowed through the throat, feels rounded and natural without effort. Poor quality coffee feels unsmooth when swallowed, giving the throat a tight, rough sensation.

Coffee smoothness and body are related to some extent, sometimes collectively called "rich smoothness." The richer the coffee, the more pronounced the smoothness.

3. Understand cleanliness

Coffee may have some astringency, some powdery or earthy notes. Such coffee has unclean cup quality. High cleanliness makes tasting easy and pleasant. FrontStreet Coffee's washed Blue Label Geisha has a clean and clear mouthfeel.

4. Understand acidity

Sweet and acidic substances in coffee are components of coffee flavor complexity. Although Yirgacheffe has acidity, it's the kind of comfortable, rounded acidity that comes with sweetness. FrontStreet Coffee's washed Blue Label Geisha contains rich acidity like peaches and plums.

5. Feel sweetness

Sweetness is the simplest and most intuitive aspect of coffee tasting. A good cup of Geisha has almost no bitterness, making the sweetness more apparent.

Sweetness is liked and accepted by everyone. Pleasant, lively sweetness pairs well with acidity. When we drink coffee with excellent sweetness paired with lively acidity, achieving sweet-sour balance and sweet-sour transformation.

FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Label Geisha's sweet coffee is like a fruit, containing fructose in the coffee beans, sweet potato sweetness, similar to sucrose, brown sugar, caramel, creating a mouth-watering sensation.

6. Taste Flavor

When coffee is in your mouth, you can feel its flavor, usually distinguishing coffee's sweet, salty, sour, and bitter notes. Geisha is fruity sweet.

7. Perceive aftertaste

After drinking coffee, there's always a flavor that returns from the throat, called "aftertaste" or "sweet return." If it makes the mouth feel dry, it's generally called a "dry" or "throat-drying" aftertaste.

Blue Label's aftertaste is very persistent and clear, like eating licorice olives. A cup of coffee with good aftertaste will keep the aroma in the mouth longer, with a more lingering finish.

How to Brew Geisha Well?

FrontStreet Coffee's pour-over reference: Weigh 15g of [FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Label Geisha] coffee powder, pour into a grinder for medium grinding. The ground particles should be slightly coarser than salt. We use BG grinder setting 4B, water temperature 91 degrees, using a cake cup for extraction.

The hot water in the pour-over kettle should circle clockwise with the filter cup as the center. Start timing when brewing begins. In 15 seconds, brew the coffee to 30g, then stop pouring water. When the time reaches 1 minute, pour the second time. The second pour should be the same as before, circling clockwise with the filter cup as the center. The water flow should not hit where the coffee powder meets the filter paper to avoid channel effects.

When brewing to the outermost circle of coffee powder, leave one circle, then circle back toward the center. At 2 minutes 20 seconds, brew the coffee to 220g, completing the coffee brewing.

Cold Brew Geisha

FrontStreet Coffee's cold brew Geisha reference:

FrontStreet Coffee's Panama Blue Label Geisha, light roast, BG grinder setting 4B, grind level 3, 20 grams of beans, water temperature 83 degrees, pre-infusion for 3 minutes, using Chemex pot, then cold brew with ice water, total water 200ml.

FrontStreet Coffee Geisha Coffee Bean Brand Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted Frontsteet Panama Jade Estate Red Label Geisha coffee beans have full guarantees in both brand and quality. More importantly, they offer exceptional value for money. One package is 100 grams, priced at only 350 yuan. Calculating at 15 grams per cup, one package can make 6 cups of coffee, each cup costing only about 60 yuan. Compared to café prices that often exceed several hundred yuan per cup, this is truly a conscientious recommendation.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473