Panama Geisha Coffee Beans Pour-Over Tutorial - How to Brew Geisha Drip Coffee for the Best Taste?

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To brew a delicious cup of coffee, you must first understand the coffee beans. FrontStreet Coffee believes that whether the coffee beans are expensive or affordable, as long as they are good coffee beans, you can brew a delicious cup with proper techniques.

Today, FrontStreet Coffee will introduce the rising star Geisha coffee beans. How much do you know about Geisha coffee beans? Actually, Geisha is just a coffee variety, with its name coming from the translation of "Geisha." It belongs to the same category as Typica, Bourbon, and others. Geisha originally grew in the forests of Ethiopia. In 1931, it was introduced from Geisha Mountain in southwestern Ethiopia to coffee research institutes in Kenya and Tanzania, then later transplanted to Uganda and Costa Rica. During the 1960s-70s, it was introduced to Panama by Don Pachi Estate from Costa Rica.

At that time, due to low yield, tall plants that were difficult to harvest, and being far less popular than Caturra and Catuai varieties, Geisha trees were often used as windbreak trees. It wasn't until Panama Geisha Hacienda La Esmeralda separated it from other varieties in 2003 and it became the BOP competition champion in 2004 that the Geisha variety officially entered everyone's spotlight.

Growing Conditions for Geisha Coffee

In reality, Geisha coffee trees have high requirements for their growing environment and are quite "picky." They require planting in areas with high altitude, cloud shade or extensive shade tree coverage, and fertile soil to develop rich and captivating floral aromas, delicate and elegant fruit acidity, and tea-like aftertaste.

Panama's climate environment is particularly suitable for growing Geisha coffee. Bordering Costa Rica and Colombia, Panama's east-to-west environment allows cold air currents to flow through the central mountains and converge at altitudes above 1,900 meters. This creates a very unique microclimate in the Boquete and Piedra de Candela regions, with temperatures and rainfall perfectly suited for plant growth. This microclimate region is the main production area for Panama coffee. Besides the climate, the surrounding land is nutrient-rich, and fertile soil provides perfect growing conditions for coffee, shaping numerous unique, high-quality coffees. FrontStreet Coffee believes that it's precisely these various factors in the Panama region that allow Geisha coffee beans to develop delicate and elegant fruit acidity as well as distinct floral aromas. It's because of these flavors that Panama's Geisha coffee has become popular worldwide.

Global Geisha Cultivation

Since Geisha coffee became famous in Panama, it has been cultivated worldwide, with even Yunnan now growing Geisha coffee. Although Geisha coffee is being cultivated in various places such as Ethiopia, Colombia, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and even Yunnan in China, factors like climate, altitude, temperature and humidity, sunlight duration and intensity, soil fertility, irrigation water, and growers all affect coffee flavor. None have achieved flavors as outstanding as Panama Geisha. Therefore, Geisha varieties are diverse and each has its characteristics. While Panama is mainstream, FrontStreet Coffee believes that Geisha coffees from other producing countries and regions are also worth trying.

Besides Panama Geisha, FrontStreet Coffee also offers Ethiopia's Geisha Village Red Label, Colombia's Hanami Coffee, and Costa Rica's Mirasu Coffee - all very popular single-origin coffees!

Hacienda La Esmeralda's Product Classification

As the "discoverer" of Geisha, Hacienda La Esmeralda began dividing its estate into plots early on and established a series of product positioning. It initially consisted of three Geisha brands and two non-Geisha brands: Esmeralda Special, Private Collection, and Geisha 1500. The Catuai varieties had two brands: Diamond Mountain and Palmyra.

Later, due to changes in the international market, Geisha's global popularity, and other Panama estates also exploring Geisha's potential, Hacienda La Esmeralda made corresponding product adjustments between 2020-2022. These included separating auction batches from the red label to create an independent product line - Auction Batches. The red label retained its original attribute of traceable specific plots, becoming the highest-grade product in non-auction sales. The green label doesn't emphasize specific plots but is a blend harvested from various plots at 1,600-1,800 meters altitude, still maintaining the classic Esmeralda Geisha flavor. The blue label series, which offered the best value, was discontinued.

How to Brew Geisha Coffee

Due to Geisha coffee's characteristics of floral and fruity aromas, honey sweetness, and clean, bright mouthfeel, Geisha coffee beans are typically roasted to medium-light levels. When brewing, FrontStreet Coffee's baristas use finer grinding to increase the contact area between coffee particles and water, and use higher water temperature to accelerate the dissolution rate of coffee substances.

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Recommendations

To brew a good cup of coffee, besides the coffee variety, freshness is crucial. FrontStreet Coffee believes that coffee bean freshness is a very important factor in brewing. All coffee beans shipped by FrontStreet Coffee are roasted within 5 days because FrontStreet Coffee deeply understands that bean freshness greatly affects flavor. FrontStreet Coffee's roasting philosophy is "Freshly Roasted Good Coffee," ensuring that every customer receives the freshest coffee when they receive their order. The coffee resting period is about 4-7 days, so when customers receive their coffee, it's at its peak flavor.

Of course, some customers need FrontStreet Coffee to grind the beans for them, which is perfectly fine. However, FrontStreet Coffee must remind you: once coffee beans are pre-ground, there's no need for a resting period, because during transportation, the pressure from carbon dioxide buildup in the packaging also helps round out the coffee flavor, so you can brew a cup immediately upon receiving the ground coffee. However, ground coffee needs to be brewed promptly because it oxidizes quickly when exposed to air, meaning the coffee flavor will dissipate relatively quickly, and the coffee won't taste as good. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee recommends buying whole beans and grinding fresh before brewing to better experience the coffee's flavor.

FrontStreet Coffee's Three-Stage Geisha Brewing Process

First, prepare your equipment (V60 dripper, 15g coffee, 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, 91°C, coffee ground to fine sugar size (medium-fine/China No. 20 standard sieve 80% pass rate).

Step 1: Pour in the coffee grounds and begin the first water injection while starting the timer. First, inject 30g of hot water in circular motions from center outward. The coffee grounds will absorb water and slowly expand, forming a puffed "coffee dome." This process is called blooming. The blooming process allows the coffee grounds to release internal carbon dioxide, making subsequent extraction more stable.

Step 2: Stop pouring when you reach 30g of water and wait for 30 seconds of blooming time. Starting at the 31st second on the scale, begin the second water injection, pouring in circular motions from center outward. Keep the water flow steady and vertical. When the water column impacts the coffee layer, foam will appear. This brewing stage releases coffee foam that spreads across the entire surface of the grounds, with the liquid level rising to the bottom of the ribs. The water amount for this stage is 125g.

Step 3: When the liquid level drops to about halfway, begin the final water injection. Similarly, pour 70g in a "smelling" circular motion from center outward. The originally dark brown foam transforms into light yellow coffee foam, and the liquid level returns to the same height as during the second injection. Once all the coffee liquid has flowed into the server, remove the dripper to finish extraction. The entire coffee brewing time is 2'00".

FrontStreet Coffee's Geisha Coffee Flavor Profiles

FrontStreet Coffee's Panama Hacienda La Esmeralda Red Label Geisha Coffee: Bright rose and citrus aromas, brown rice, berries, apricot, complex fruits, honey, with a substantial juicy texture and rich flavor layers with distinct sweetness.

FrontStreet Coffee's Panama Hacienda La Esmeralda Green Label Geisha Coffee: Rich jasmine floral aroma, high sweetness, citrus, berries, juicy texture, cream, green tea, orange peel, cantaloupe, with overall rich flavor layers and persistent floral and citrus aftertaste.

FrontStreet Coffee's Panama Volcanic Rock Coffee: Ginger flower, citrus, honey, pomelo.

FrontStreet Coffee offers several varieties of Geisha coffee from different producing countries and various types from different regions. If you want to experience Geisha coffee flavor without too much trouble, you might consider purchasing Geisha drip bag coffee. With just hot water and a cup, you can brew a delicious Geisha black coffee anytime, anywhere.

Geisha Drip Bag Brewing Tutorial

Since drip bag coffee requires pre-grinding, the coffee grounds have more contact area with air than whole beans, making aromas more likely to dissipate. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee recommends using freshly roasted Panama Geisha coffee beans for production, resulting in fuller aroma when brewed. FrontStreet Coffee hopes every customer can experience the delicate flavors in coffee, so only ships coffee beans roasted within 5 days, ensuring customers receive them during the optimal tasting period.

Brewing drip bags can be very simple - just pour a certain amount of hot water over the coffee grounds, wait for the coffee liquid to drip through, and the entire extraction process is complete. The flavor of drip bag coffee is related to many factors, such as coffee-to-water ratio, water temperature, pouring method, etc. If you want to brew a cup of drip bag coffee with good flavor and mouthfeel, FrontStreet Coffee suggests paying attention to the following details during operation to make the coffee in your cup taste better.

First, we need to prepare sufficiently hot water because only at high enough temperatures can more aromatic compounds be released from the coffee grounds. When brewing pour-over coffee, FrontStreet Coffee recommends using water temperatures between 86-93°C. If the temperature is only around 80°C, the brewed coffee tends to be bland and tasteless, while boiling water easily extracts bitter flavors. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee leaves boiled water uncovered at room temperature for 1-2 minutes to let the temperature drop to around 90°C.

First, we need to prepare a container for the coffee, a kettle for pouring water, and sufficiently hot water. A sharing pot or drinking cup will work.

Tear open the sealed package, take out the coffee drip bag, and tear open the non-woven fabric pocket along the dotted line. Pull the two "ears" apart to fully open the drip bag, then hang it on the edge of your cup or sharing pot.

First, moisten all the coffee grounds in the first stage, blooming for about 10-20 seconds. In the second stage, pour steadily with a small water flow until the liquid level is nearly full, then wait for the coffee liquid to drop down until it's finished flowing.

Pour the final stage of water until full, wait until all the coffee liquid has finished dripping, then gently shake to mix evenly, and you can begin enjoying your coffee.

Important Notice :

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