Geisha vs Blue Mountain: Which of the World's Most Expensive Coffee Beans Tastes Better | How to Properly Brew Authentic Blue Mountain Coffee

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The Pursuit of Excellence in Coffee

People always seek the finest things - the most mellow fine wines, the most captivating cigars, or the most noble champagnes. Coffee is no different. Drinking good coffee brings happiness, so people have begun to pursue even better coffee. From the previous Jamaican Blue Mountain or Hawaiian Kona to today's most popular Geisha coffee, people continue to search for the most distinctive and delicious coffee beans.

Jamaica Blue Mountain

Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee, known in English as Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee, once dominated competition and auction fields. Its flavor offers a perfectly balanced smoothness of acidity, bitterness, and sweetness. Grown on the Blue Mountains of Jamaica at altitudes above 2000 meters, only the finest Blue Mountain coffee can be produced. The Blue Mountains are the highest mountains in the Caribbean region, with rich soil and high-altitude climate that give coffee grown here its special flavor.

Some say that Blue Mountain maintains its balanced flavor profile at any temperature. Wallenford Estate, Mavis Bank Estate, Silver Hill Estate, Atlanta Estate, MOY HALL, and GOLD CUP are the renowned estates of Blue Mountain coffee.

The History of Blue Mountain Coffee

The history of Jamaican coffee dates back to the 18th century when the British introduced coffee trees to Jamaica, planting them on the Blue Mountains. These are further divided into high-altitude Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, Jamaican High Mountain coffee, and Jamaican coffee, with different grades determining different prices.

Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Beans

(Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee) - Both Blue Mountain coffee and High Mountain coffee are each divided into four grades. From highest to lowest quality, they are: NO.1, NO.2, NO.3, and PB, where PB stands for Peaberry (round bean). According to CIB standards, only coffee grown at altitudes above 666 meters can be called Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee.

Jamaica High Mountain Coffee

(Jamaica High Mountain Supreme Coffee Beans) - Coffee produced in the Blue Mountain region below 666 meters is called High Mountain coffee. It's second only to Blue Mountain coffee in quality and is known in the industry as the brother variety to Blue Mountain coffee. Due to the extremely limited production of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, if you want to taste Jamaican-style coffee, Jamaican High Mountain coffee is your best choice.

Jamaica Coffee

(Jamaica Prime Coffee Beans) - Coffee grown outside the Blue Mountains region is called Jamaican coffee. Originally, Chinese coffee professionals had a misconception that only coffee grown in the Blue Mountain region above 1800 meters altitude could be called Blue Mountain coffee. In fact, above 1800 meters on the Blue Mountains' crest, there is only one estate: Amber, owned by a person of Chinese descent with the surname Lyn (Lin), whose ancestors came from Guangdong, China. This estate has only 30 hectares of land with very limited production. Blue Mountain coffee is mainly distributed across five mountain areas: John Crow, St. John's Peak, Mossman's Peak, High Peak, and Blue Mountain Peak.

Geisha Coffee

Geisha Coffee, known in English as Geisha Coffee, gained the nickname "Geisha coffee" because its transliteration sounds like the Japanese "geisha." However, many baristas dislike this name, believing that this coffee shouldn't be associated with Japanese geishas, so increasingly more people use the Chinese name "Guixia" (Geisha), which is also more aesthetically pleasing.

A Foreign Prince: Taking Root and Becoming King

Geisha coffee was developed and popularized in Panamanian estates, but it's a story of a foreign prince successfully becoming a new king. The Geisha coffee variety was discovered in Ethiopia and then traveled through Kenya's coffee research institute to many African countries like Uganda and Tanzania, where it wasn't valued and was only used for research purposes.

Later, when someone introduced Geisha to Costa Rica, it was brought to Panama through the connection of Don Pachi Estate. Various estates could be seen with some Geisha trees because they were used as windbreaks for coffee trees - yes, you read that correctly, windbreaks. Moreover, Geisha trees' yields were unstable, and they were often mixed with regular coffee beans rather than being featured as a main coffee product. Until around the 21st century, some estates discovered that Geisha's flavor was exceptionally delicious. While excited, they weren't sure whether this flavor would appeal to discerning coffee enthusiasts.

The Perennial Champion of the Coffee World

In 2003, Geisha first won first place in Best of Panama, produced by the renowned La Esmeralda Estate. Many baristas were amazed when they first tasted Geisha, feeling like a Cinderella story where an unremarkable windbreak tree transformed into a star coffee tree. In the decade that followed and continues to this day, Geisha remains the top choice in major cupping and coffee competitions, surpassing both Blue Mountain and Kona - two star coffee beans - to become the mainstream in the specialty coffee market.

A Journey to the Roots

As mentioned earlier, Geisha was discovered in Ethiopia, which naturally sparked the curiosity of many explorers seeking to find Geisha's roots. Both Willem Boot, founder of La Mula estate, and Joseph Brodsky, founder of Ninety Plus, attempted this journey but didn't achieve significant results. Nature is truly wonderful. People around the world now grow Geisha variety coffee, even in Taiwan, China, but the flavor still doesn't match Panama's stunning profile, though it remains excellent coffee beans. It's believed that every coffee variety has optimal factors of temperature, soil, and climate, making the dream of easily replicating coffee flavor profiles just that - a dream.

Jamaica Blue Mountain vs Panama Geisha

Today's two protagonists are Jamaican Blue Mountain, described as "perfect in acidity, sweetness, body, and bitterness," and Panama Geisha, known as a "fruit bomb that explodes in the mouth." So what are the differences in flavor and mouthfeel between Jamaican Blue Mountain and Panama Geisha?

Today, we'll conduct a comparative cupping to measure the performance of these two coffee "heavyweights" and see which one is more delicious! When you have great beans, you can be bold!

Processing Methods

Jamaica Blue Mountain:

Fully Washed Method: Using washing and fermentation to remove the fruit pulp and mucilage. Farms using the washed method must build washing tanks and have access to a continuous supply of fresh water. During processing, the fermented beans are placed in the tank and moved back and forth, using the friction of the beans and the power of flowing water to wash the coffee beans until they are smooth and clean.

After washing, the coffee beans are still encased in parchment with a moisture content of 50%. They must be dried to reduce the moisture content to 12%, otherwise they will continue to ferment and become moldy and spoiled.

The better processing method is sun-drying, which takes 1-3 weeks, but produces exceptional flavor that is highly appreciated.

Blue Mountain: Typica variety

Panama Geisha:

Natural/Dried-in-the-Fruit Method: The fruits begin the sun-drying process immediately after harvesting without any processing. This is the oldest existing processing method. The drying process typically takes about 4 weeks. The processing method must be very rigorous to ensure the coffee doesn't lose any flavor. The natural method requires extremely dry local climate and hand-picked fully ripe cherry fruits to ensure the defect rate isn't too high.

Panama: Geisha variety

Coffee Bean Appearance

Green Beans:

Jamaican Blue Mountain green beans are bluish-green, round and slightly small, with uniform overall particle size.

Panama natural Geisha green beans are yellowish-green, elongated and pointed, with relatively uniform but not as consistent particle size as Blue Mountain.

Roasted Beans:

Although Jamaican Blue Mountain is roasted to a darker level, it still has noticeably more silver skin.

Panama natural Geisha has less silver skin. The volume difference between the two has decreased.

Cupping Session

Cupping Preparation:

Water ratio: 8.2-8.3 grams of coffee beans with 150ml of water, water-to-coffee ratio 1:18.18, water temperature should be 94°C.

Cupping glasses: Should be made of tempered glass or ceramic material.

Cupping capacity: Between 207ml to 266ml.

Rim diameter: 76-89mm. All cups should be manufactured with the same volume, dimensions, and material.

Cupping spoons: Should be made of antistatic metal material (mostly stainless steel), with each spoon holding 4-5ml.

Cupping Process:

1. Grind the beans to be cupped (Grind setting: BG: 3B).
2. Smell the dry aroma.
3. Pour hot water (94°C) into the cup until full, while timing for 4 minutes.
4. At 2 minutes, smell the wet aroma.
5. At 4 minutes, break the crust.

"Breaking the crust": Use the cupping spoon to push away the floating coffee powder on the surface, allowing the trapped aroma to burst out. Confirm the coffee's aroma performance. Gently stir with the cupping spoon about 3 times and let rest for 2 minutes.

6. After 2 minutes, skim the foam.

"Skimming the foam": Use the cupping spoon to scoop up the surface foam. Clean the spoon each time to avoid leaving bad flavors that could affect the coffee.

7. Scoop up the coffee liquid with the cupping spoon and taste by slurping. Slurping atomizes the coffee liquid in the mouth, allowing flavor molecules to present more clearly.
8. Spit the coffee liquid from your mouth into the spittoon.

Differences in Dry and Wet Aroma:

Jamaican Blue Mountain: Dark chocolate; nuts; brown sugar.

Panama Geisha: Fruit wine aroma; peach.

Differences in Cupping Flavor:

Jamaican Blue Mountain: Chocolate; nuts; cream; brown sugar. Balanced sweetness, acidity, and bitterness with moderate and perfect acidity, carrying light fruit notes.

Panama Geisha: Strawberry; peach; citrus; floral; wine aroma; dark berry flavors; full-bodied with multi-layered sweet and acidic vibrations.

Cupping Score Comparison:

Jamaican Blue Mountain: Total Score: 88.5

Panama Geisha: Total Score: 89.5

[COE Cupping Form]

Summary of scores from multiple cupping rounds.

Final Conclusion:

Clearly, based on the cupping results, Jamaican Blue Mountain's strength lies in its balance - no obvious flaws, but also no particularly outstanding flavors. However, it absolutely conforms to most people's impression of "coffee flavor." It truly deserves its reputation as the most "pure" coffee that has endured through time.

Panama Geisha also deserves its title as the "perennial champion" of various brewing competitions. Its sweet and acidic sensations explode, with highly recognizable floral and fruit acidity. Although its balance is slightly inferior to Blue Mountain, it's still well-balanced. Except for those extremely particular about bitterness, probably no one would dislike Geisha.

Of course, there are many "number ones" in the coffee world - some coffees have the highest sales, some have the highest auction prices, some have the highest ratings - but no coffee has ever dared to claim it's the best tasting - but there's definitely a personal favorite.

Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Bean Brand Recommendation

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee beans offer full guarantees in both brand and quality. More importantly, they offer exceptional value - a half-pound (100g) package costs only about 158 yuan. Calculating at 15g of coffee per cup, one package can make 6 cups, with each cup costing only about 25 yuan. Compared to coffee shops selling cups for over 100 yuan each, this is truly a conscientious recommendation.

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