Panama Jaramillo Introduction: How to Roast Panama Geisha? How to Drink Geisha Coffee

Professional coffee knowledge exchange. For more coffee bean information, please follow Cafe Style (WeChat official account: cafe_style).

The Discovery of a Legendary Variety

In 1997, the Peterson family purchased an estate in Panama called Jaramillo, which was incorporated under Hacienda La Esmeralda. The location was in Jaramillo, Boquete, Panama. Rachel Peterson, daughter of the Peterson family, spoke about acquiring Jaramillo: "I fell in love with that place immediately. At that time, it was just 125 hectares of abandoned mountain land, with most of it still preserving primitive forest. In the lower areas, 10 hectares of Catuai and Typica were planted."

Jaramillo had previously undergone several different operators. When the Petersons bought the estate, they were not actually aware of the numerous coffee varieties in the garden. Later, they learned from Don Pachi Serracin, the owner of Don Pachi Estate, that Jaramillo had a variety called Geisha, which possessed disease resistance. Two years later, in 1998, Price Peterson decided to plant this little-known variety in the new estate, about 50 hectares, which was a very bold decision at that time.

The Birth of a Coffee Legend

These newly planted trees produced cherries for the first time in 2002, with the first harvest in 2003. The following year, the Peterson family entered it in the 2004 "Best of Panama" competition and won first place. After cupping, one of the judges, Willem Boot, gave it an incredible 94 points—a score that even he found unbelievable. Out of 15 judges, 14 were completely won over by this unheard-of Geisha. Before this, Esmeralda Estate's beans could only sell for $1.20 per pound. Price Peterson later recalled that before the bidding, based on the high scores this bean received from the judging panel, he expected it might fetch a record-breaking $7 at most. When the bid price continued to soar, he thought hackers had invaded and were playing a joke on them. The final auction price reached as high as $21 per pound.

In fact, that was just the beginning of the golden age of Geisha. $21 was the lowest price that the "Best of Panama" Geisha first prize would never see again. In 2013, it set a record of $350, and in 2015, this price came to $140. Last year, when Rachel Peterson was interviewed by the Australian media The BeanScene magazine, she spoke about the discovery of Geisha: "It was purely luck, perhaps with a little bit of effort. We were lucky to have bought an estate that originally had Geisha trees. We were lucky that when we replanted this mysterious variety, it grew very well. We were lucky to have suitable rainfall and high altitude for Geisha to thrive. Everything can only be attributed to our luck."

Revolutionizing the Specialty Coffee Industry

Buying Jaramillo was luck, but that "little bit of effort" changed the entire specialty coffee industry.

After Geisha emerged, varieties suddenly transformed to become the primary consideration. "In the past, merely discussing the terroir of origin was no longer enough, because the differences caused by varieties might be even greater." Thoresen said.

At the same time, the distinction between batches became increasingly precise. Even for Esmeralda Estate, in the beginning, Esmeralda's competition batches were created by Daniel selecting the best batches from all batches in the garden and mixing them together. Therefore, from a certain perspective, it was Daniel who "created" the final flavor of Jaramillo. From 2004 to 2007, Esmeralda won the championship every year, proving this strategy was feasible. However, roasters, including Thoresen, hoped to personally cup the different block batches within Jaramillo and then decide which batch they preferred themselves.

Roasting Geisha to Perfection

To fully reveal the character of Geisha, one must put considerable effort into roasting. Geisha is generally grown at high altitudes above 1500 meters. FrontStreet Coffee obtains beans from 1700m altitude—hard, high-density beans that are plump in form, medium in particle size, thick and long in body, with slightly pointed ends.

FrontStreet Coffee uses light roasting to highlight the characteristics and aroma of this bean. This roasting level can better bring out the inherent qualities of the bean. Too dark would damage the floral aroma and fruit acidity. Of course, this also needs to be adjusted according to the characteristics of the coffee beans and the roaster's understanding of the beans themselves.

FrontStreet Coffee must pay attention during the roasting process: the Geisha roasting curve should not be too long, otherwise the flavor will become dull. After the first crack, the temperature rise should not be too high. Geisha has pointed ends that easily develop black spots. A temperature rise below 6 degrees would be better. Light roasting better reveals the aroma of tea rose.

Brewing Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee brewing parameter recommendations:

Cake filter cup / 91℃ / 1:15 / Time 2'10"

Flavor: Rose tea, citrus, jasmine flower fragrance, cane sugar, green tea sensation, etc.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473