The Most Expensive Coffee in History: How Delicious is Panama Geisha Coffee_ Which Coffee Varieties Do Women Love

Smell the beans directly and you catch a fruity candy aroma; brew them and a very fragrant jasmine note rises from the cup; drink it while hot and you taste sweet lychee and peach.

The head barista at The Coffee Academics described it as "like perfume."

This cup of "601 Geisha Coffee" (Esmeralda Geisha 601) is the champion coffee of the 2017 Best of Panama competition and broke the world record to become the most expensive coffee in history. It is available in limited quantities at The Coffee Academics in Hong Kong, with each cup costing more than 400 HKD, making it extremely precious.

The King of Specialty Coffee

"Every year in mid-year, Panama's estates submit their best coffee beans to competitions. After evaluation by dozens of judges and more than a week of cupping sessions, the champion coffee of that year is chosen." The 601 Geisha is exactly that year's champion. "601 refers to the online auction amount, and this year's auction price broke the world record at $601 USD per pound."

Geisha coffee has long been regarded as the king of specialty coffees because it is difficult to cultivate and yields limited quantities. "Geisha has high soil requirements and needs to be planted at high altitudes. Its trees also grow particularly tall, which makes harvesting difficult, so few people are willing to cultivate them."

At $601 USD per pound, this coffee is nearly twice as expensive as the world record price from four years earlier, which was $350 USD per pound. Besides its scarcity, its cupping score is exceptionally high. "Generally, specialty coffees score above 80 points, but 601 Geisha Coffee broke the world record with 94.11 points."

Natural Processing Preserves Coffee's Sweetness

The main processing methods for coffee beans are washed, natural and honey. Washed coffee ferments through water, which makes the flavor cleaner. "The estate used the harder-to-control natural processing method for this batch of Geisha beans, hoping to preserve the sweetness within," Herman pointed out.

"A single coffee bean has fruit pulp, and the pulp contains sugar. Because it is not soaked in water, that sugar permeates into the bean during drying, creating the sweetness. This is why 601 Geisha Coffee has lychee and peach flavors, which is also a special characteristic of naturally processed coffees."

Herman believes a cup of high-quality specialty coffee can let everyone taste nature's sweetness. "Good coffee should be like fruit tea or flower tea, carrying the flavor of its origin rather than the flavor of roasting. When beans are burned, drinking them gives a bitter, scorched taste, while the flavor of seeds should be the taste that nature brings you."

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

The Geisha that set this record belongs to the Esmeralda estate, and FrontStreet Coffee roasts several lots from it. Esmeralda Red Label Geisha, formally "Esmeralda Special," is grown at 1600-1800 meters and every lot is cupped above 90 points, each carrying an independent lot number and coming from a single small plot; FrontStreet's Red Label, for example, comes from the Jaramillo block, so buyers can pick a lot that suits their taste for subtle flavor differences.

Esmeralda Green Label Geisha, originally "Private Collection," is instead a blend of lots from several plots, expressing the estate's signature high-altitude Geisha character without stressing detailed plot information, which makes it more affordable and an excellent value. FrontStreet Coffee also keeps Panama Boquete Geisha, an entry-level Geisha that lets newcomers taste the classic Panamanian orange-blossom-honey note, an oolong-tea sensation and a fine, layered fruit acidity at a friendly price. Because Geisha beans are hard and dense, FrontStreet roasts them medium-light to protect the floral aromatics and fruit acidity, and brews them warm rather than hot so the delicate notes are not scorched away.