The Legendary Story of Janson Estate Geisha - Karl Jenson's Coffee World Champagne

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Panama Janson Estate Geisha

Estate: Janson Estate

Region: Volcán Region

Variety: Geisha

Processing: Natural

Altitude: 1750m

Annual Rainfall: 3000mm

Average Temperature: 20°C

Soil: Volcanic soil

Harvest: Hand-picked

Flavor: Delicate berry notes, clean mouthfeel, honey, lychee flavors

About Janson Estate

In 2004, Panama's Peterson family first introduced the Geisha variety to the world, and since then, the international coffee community has been captivated by it, calling it the "champagne of coffee." In 2013, when the Specialty Coffee Association of Panama (SCAP) awarded the Best of Panama coffee awards, there was a new contender – the Geisha from Carl Janson's Janson Estate.

"Unique Microclimate"

The microclimate found in Panama's highlands is the most important resource that makes Panama's unique coffee truly exceptional. The east-west environment of the Republic of Panama allows cold air currents to flow through the central mountain range and converge above 6,500 feet, creating various microclimates in the Boquete and Volcán–Candela regions, making them the main production areas for Panama's distinctive coffees. These distinctive coffees are cultivated in the nutrient-rich, balanced soils of the Barú Volcano region. The appropriate microclimate, soil, temperature, and altitude of these highlands are suitable for the sowing, planting, and harvesting of various specialty coffees.

Estate owner Mr. Janson (Carl Janson) was originally from Switzerland.

When he came to Panama, he fell deeply in love with the Volcán area, a place surrounded by mountains similar to his homeland Switzerland. After marrying his wife Margaret, he purchased this estate in 1940. Carl Janson, an enthusiastic rancher, was also the first person to breed Angus cattle in Panama.

Janson Estate Geisha

| Geisha, also known as Geisha

The pronunciation of "Geisha" is similar to the Japanese word for geisha, hence it is also called Geisha coffee; because the tree variety is taller than typical coffee trees, it was originally planted in a small area within the estate and used as a windbreak.

| Geisha is a variety

The Geisha variety was first discovered in 1931 in the Geisha Forest of Ethiopia and later sent to the Coffee Research Institute in Kenya. In 1936, it was introduced to Uganda and Tanzania; in 1953, Costa Rica introduced it.

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

Geisha coffee is particularly picky about its growing environment, requiring high altitude, cloud and shade protection, fertile soil, and sufficient accumulated temperature.

In 2013, when the Specialty Coffee Association of Panama (SCAP) awarded the Best of Panama coffee award, there was a new contender! It was the Geisha variety from Carl Janson's Janson Estate! Also known as the "champagne of coffee." Rich jasmine floral aroma and delicate berry notes, clean mouthfeel, honey, and lychee flavors.

Geisha has a rich sweetness, an extremely clean mouthfeel, and abundant aromas that range from berries and citrus to mango, papaya, and peach. A very distinct bergamot-like aftertaste is also one of its typical cupping characteristics. To date, Geisha has always been the champion among coffee varieties.

Janson Geisha is relatively unheard of in China because Janson Estate primarily focuses on domestic sales rather than exports.

Under these high altitude conditions, nutrient-rich volcanic soil, abundant rainfall, and suitable temperature.

Janson Estate has gradually become the second-largest Geisha producer among Panama's estates, with 50% of the estate planted with Geisha variety coffee trees.

The harvested coffee beans are called "ox blood coffee cherries" and have particularly high sweetness.

To maintain environmental balance, Janson Estate operates both livestock farming and coffee cultivation, with three generations of the family currently managing the estate together. Today, Carl's four sons run the farm: Carl, Michael, Richie, and Peter. Carl oversees the Janson Family coffee roasting facilities, and Michael manages part of the coffee farm. Richie and Peter assist with overall management.

With an average altitude of about 1700 meters, the estate is covered with nutrient-rich volcanic soil, abundant rainfall, and suitable temperatures. The Janson family managers follow environmentally friendly operating principles, adopting 100% sustainable cultivation methods, and have specially built processing plants to use processed coffee cherries as farm fertilizer.

Only 2000 Geisha plants are planted per hectare to ensure sufficient soil between plants; half of the estate is planted with Geisha, ranking second in Panama's Geisha production. Each batch of green beans has a highly recognizable batch number and is 100% traceable.

This estate not only has its own processing plant to handle its coffee cherries but also puts considerable effort into roasting to enhance the reference value of cupping results.

These efforts have increasingly improved the quality of Janson Estate's coffee beans, with results that enabled Janson Estate's Geisha to achieve runner-up status in the Panama (BOP) competition.

In recent years, coffees from the Volcán region have gradually emerged in the specialty market, with quite a few estates entering the Best of Panama competition and even winning championships. The Volcán region generally has less annual rainfall than Boquete, and its geographical location on the west side of Barú Volcano gives coffees from this region more intense dried fruit flavors, sweetness, and aroma compared to those from the Boquete region.

In the early days, the Volcán area mostly grew economic crops such as fruits and vegetables, with only a few farmers cultivating coffee. Among the pioneers of coffee cultivation in the Volcán region were the well-known Hartmann family and the Janson family in Panama.

FrontStreet Coffee Green Bean Analysis

Geisha coffee green beans have a very beautiful blue-green color. Geisha green beans are relatively slender with pointed ends.

They have a jade-like warm texture, smelling of fresh grass, peach, berry notes, and a unique milky sweetness characteristic of oolong tea that most coffee beans lack. It seems that aroma and flavor require associative thinking, but the faint tea aroma is something we can clearly feel.

FrontStreet Coffee Roasting Analysis

This coffee's beans are relatively large and dense, absorbing more heat during the roasting process, and the Maillard reaction occurs quite quickly. In the first batch of roasting, I used a higher dropping temperature of 200°C and continuously applied heat before the coffee beans dehydrated and turned yellow to ensure sufficient heat would last until the end of roasting.

Finally, I chose an entering temperature of 200°C and relatively reduced the heat, gradually increasing it as needed during the roasting process. Under this operating method, the coffee's dehydration time was extended compared to the first batch, with temperature increases of 6-8 degrees every thirty seconds.

| FrontStreet Coffee's Geisha, Roasting

To highlight this bean's characteristics and aroma, FrontStreet Coffee uses light roasting, which better brings out the bean's inherent characteristics. Too dark would damage the floral aromas and fruit acidity. Of course, this must be adjusted according to the coffee bean's characteristics and the roaster's understanding of the bean itself.

FrontStreet Coffee uses a smaller starting heat of 140°C and a slower roasting rhythm during the roasting stage to express this coffee's multi-layered flavors.

FrontStreet Coffee uses a Yangjia 600g semi-direct heat roaster.

Preheat the roaster to 200°C, set the damper to 3.5, after 30 seconds adjust heat to 160°C, damper to 3, temperature recovery point at 1'32'', adjust heat once at 153.3°C when the bean surface turns yellow and grass aroma completely disappears, dehydration complete, adjust heat to 140°C, damper to 4.

At 9'00', the bean surface shows ugly wrinkles and black spots, toast aroma clearly transforms to coffee aroma, can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this point, listen carefully for the sound of first crack. First crack begins at 9'47", reduce heat to 50°C, damper fully open to 5 (adjust heat very carefully, not too small to stop crackling sounds), develop for 2'40" after first crack, drop at 197.1°C.

FrontStreet Coffee Cupping Results

Flavor: Maple flavor, lemon citrus, apple flavor, rose aroma, dark chocolate fruit notes, pomegranate, ripe grapes, peach and dark berry flavors, multi-layered sweet and sour notes.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommended Brewing Method: Pour-over

Grind size: 3.5 (Japan Fuji R440)

Water temperature: 91°C

Cake cup, 15g coffee, water temperature 91°C

Grind 3.5, water-to-coffee ratio close to 1:15

30g water for bloom, bloom time 30s

Hot water from the pour-over kettle moves in clockwise circles centered on the middle of the filter cup. Start timing when brewing begins, pour water to 30g, then stop pouring and wait 35 seconds for the second pour.

For the second pour, move in clockwise circles centered on the middle of the filter cup as before. Avoid pouring water directly onto the area where coffee grounds meet the filter paper to prevent channeling effects. The cake cup is an immersion-style brewer, so 91°C water can effectively bring out Geisha's flavors.

Segmented: Pour water to 120ml, pause, then slowly pour to 225ml

That is: 30-120-95

| Unique Geisha Flavor

What makes Geisha special is its very obvious and distinct floral and citrus flavors, extremely high clarity, soft and elegant acidity, lasting cotton-soft sweetness, and premium black tea mouthfeel.

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

Sweetness: ☆☆☆☆

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473