Panama Geisha Coffee Bean Flavor Characteristics - Introduction to Panama Geisha Coffee Origin Estate Grade Classification

Today we're sharing a special specialty coffee called Geisha. Geisha coffee is the current sensation in the coffee world. Every year when the Best of Panama (BOP) competition arrives, coffee enthusiasts passionately discuss Panama's Geisha coffee estates, even betting on which bean will become the year's champion.

The Rise of Geisha Coffee

In earlier years, the recognition of premium coffee largely followed Japanese standards, with Jamaica Blue Mountain and Hawaii Kona reigning as coffee's king and queen. However, as coffee-producing countries continuously improved their quality and information became more accessible, we've been exposed to more specialty coffees. Today, Geisha has swept through the coffee world with hurricane-like force. This coffee revolution comes with overwhelming momentum, causing even the long-reigning king and queen—Jamaica Blue Mountain and Hawaii Kona—to step aside.

The Origins of Geisha

You may not yet know the story of Geisha. It originated as an ancient native variety from Ethiopia. In 1931, Geisha seeds were discovered in the Geisha forest of Ethiopia and sent to Kenya's premier coffee research institute. In 1936, Geisha coffee was introduced to Uganda and Tanzania. In 1953, it was brought to Costa Rica's coffee experimental gardens as a coffee sample and cataloged as T2722. Finally, in the 1970s, Mr. Francisco Serracin from the Tumba Guna farm in Panama received seeds from Costa Rica's CATIE and distributed them to several small farms for experimental cultivation.

Due to the low yield of the Geisha coffee variety, it was treated by coffee farmers as a windbreak tree because it stood firm even under harsh conditions. In 2004, Hacienda La Esmeralda entered Geisha coffee in that year's Best of Panama competition and won the championship, breaking the then-record for green coffee auction prices ($130 per pound). Thus, Geisha coffee gained immense fame, and to this day, Panama Geisha coffee beans can be seen in major barista brewing competitions. This demonstrates how extraordinary the flavor and quality of Panama Geisha coffee truly are.

Later, the BOP competition was divided into Geisha and non-Geisha categories to prevent Geisha from stealing the spotlight from other varieties. Geisha belongs to the Typica family, yet it achieved fame after more than seventy years away from Ethiopia, further confirming Ethiopia's status as a genetic treasure trove of Arabica coffee. Even casually sharing a variety with the world is enough to create waves in the coffee market.

Unique Flavor Characteristics

The flavor of Geisha coffee is so extraordinary, with fruit flavors and floral elements that seem to come from Yirgacheffe in Ethiopia, on the other side of the Earth. Of course, these are all old news now. Some small farms have also obtained Geisha seeds and are eager to grow their own Geisha. However, the results vary—influenced by weather, soil, and altitude, this "star" variety seems to taste quite different when grown in various geographical locations.

Geisha is an extremely rare coffee variety that has continuously created sensations among global coffee connoisseurs in recent years, considered one of the brightest, most complex, and highly aromatic coffee varieties.

Geisha possesses rich sweetness, an exceptionally clean mouthfeel, and abundant aromas ranging from berries and citrus to mango, papaya, and peach. A very distinct bergamot-like aftertaste is also its typical cupping characteristic. To this day, Geisha remains the champion among coffee varieties.

FrontStreet Coffee's Geisha Selection

With such outstanding flavor, FrontStreet Coffee certainly wouldn't miss out on Geisha coffee. FrontStreet Coffee's bean list features a Geisha coffee from Panama's Savage Series.

FrontStreet Coffee - Finca Deborah Savage Series Geisha

Origin: Volcán, Panama

Estate: Finca Deborah

Owner: Jamison Savage

Altitude: 2000m - 2350m

Variety: Geisha

Grade: SHB

Processing: Anaerobic Natural

Everyone knows that the higher the altitude and harsher the growing conditions for Geisha coffee, the more outstanding the final flavor. Finca Deborah is one of the highest altitude and most remote coffee farms in Panama. Nighttime temperatures here can drop to 10°C, the surrounding pristine forest is excellently preserved with diverse flora and fauna, annual rainfall is around 2200mm, and the forest is perpetually shrouded in mist. Coffee here is grown at altitudes around 2000 meters, near Barú Volcano, with fertile volcanic soil.

The extreme altitude and lower temperatures greatly reduce the likelihood of coffee tree diseases even without using any chemical pesticides or herbicides, allowing coffee trees to devote more energy to the growth process of coffee cherries.

This Savage Series Geisha coffee bean is a coffee project created and managed by Finca Deborah's owner, Jamison Savage. Naming the project after his own name shows Savage's great emphasis on this project. Finca Deborah has limited production capacity, so to allow more consumers to taste high-quality Geisha coffee, this project was born. It collects fully ripe Geisha coffee cherries from small estates and small coffee farmers in the Boquete and Volcán regions, applying post-harvest processing and processing techniques from over a decade of research at Finca Deborah.

When FrontStreet Coffee's roasters received these Savage Geisha coffee beans, they observed that the green beans had a jade-like warm texture, beautiful blue-green color, and smelled of fresh grass with intense floral and fruit aromas. To highlight the floral and fruit aromas and high-quality fruit acidity of this coffee bean, a light roast level was used.

This Panama Geisha coffee bean is lightly roasted. Light-roasted beans have lower solubility than dark-roasted ones, so to ensure full extraction of Geisha flavors, higher water temperature is used for brewing, along with a finer grind setting. Some fans may have noticed that FrontStreet Coffee has always recommended a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, while Hacienda La Esmeralda's Geisha uses 1:16. This is because slightly widening the ratio helps better experience the complexity and layers of Geisha's flavor.

Brewing Parameters:

Dripper: Hario V60

Water Temperature: 93°C

Dose: 15 grams

Ratio: 1:15

Grind Size: 80% pass-through on China standard #20 sieve

After brewing, FrontStreet Coffee's Savage Series Geisha offers distinct white floral notes, pineapple and fermented dairy-like sweet and tart sensations, with a full mouthfeel and overall clean, balanced profile.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473