What Does Geisha/Gesha Coffee Taste Like? How Should You Brew It for the Best Flavor?

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What is Geisha Coffee? Is it related to Japan?

Actually, it has nothing to do with Japanese traditional geisha performers. Geisha/Gesha is a special coffee variety, similar to Bourbon, Pacamara, or typical coffee varieties. It is an original variety discovered in the 1930s in the southwestern Ethiopian town of Gesha.

Geisha gained global recognition in 2004 when it won the "Best of Panama" (BOP) competition. Daniel Peterson of Hacienda La Esmeralda introduced it to the international panel, astonishing coffee professionals who declared it the "divine cup." Since then, the price of Geisha coffee has been continuously rising year after year.

Geisha coffee is an extremely aromatic coffee where you can find sweet floral aromas, citrus blossoms, jasmine, and sweet fragrances.

As Gesha has dominated conversations, in the eyes of coffee professionals, Gesha is undoubtedly the deserved goddess. Many are captivated by its bright and complex floral and fruity aromas, multi-layered high-sweetness fruit notes, and delicate soft acidity.

Gesha's extremely low yield is merely an excuse for its high price. What truly fascinates people is Gesha's uniquely alluring coffee flavor, which is the most important reason for its exceptional value.

In 2003, Gesha first won first place in Best of Panama, produced by the renowned Hacienda La Esmeralda. Many baristas were amazed after tasting Gesha for the first time, feeling like a Cinderella story where an unremarkable shade tree transformed into a star coffee tree. In the decade that followed and continues today, Gesha remains the top choice in major cupping competitions and coffee contests, surpassing star coffee beans like Blue Mountain and Kona to become the mainstream specialty coffee in the market.

FrontStreet Coffee's Geisha Coffee Roasting Recommendations

On September 30th, sunny day, roasting room temperature 27°C, humidity 40%, roasting green label Gesha. We received the 2018 harvest green label Gesha from 1600-1800 meters altitude, high-density and hard beans. The beans are full-bodied, thick and long, with pointed ends. We chose 170°C as the drop-in temperature, first crack began at 8'00", reduced heat to 80°C, adjusted airflow to 3.5, developed for 1'30" after first crack, and dropped at 193.5°C. When dropped, there was oolong tea aroma, with a roast level of concentrated first crack development.

Cupping results: delicate and soft acidity upon entry. Panama Hacienda La Esmeralda's Green Label Gesha offers rich flavor layers, with an instant explosion of floral and fruity aromas upon entry! Flavors change with temperature: from jasmine and citrus to berries, honeysuckle, then transforming into fruit candy, oolong tea aroma, and finally leaving a cantaloupe aftertaste.

Peach sweetness with honey aroma, fresh and comfortable, bright yet balanced, with extremely strong aromatic layers. The fruit sweetness and aftertaste are intense, and upon entry, it carries strawberry fruit aroma with strong yet gentle citrus and lemon acidity. Drinking it feels nothing like the coffee in your impression.

FrontStreet Coffee's Recommended Gesha Coffee Brewing Methods

Pour-over

Grind size: Japanese Fuji R440 3.5, raw sugar size

Water temperature: 91-92°C

V60 dripper, 15g coffee grounds, water temperature 91°C, grind size BG5M (small Fuji 3.5), water-to-coffee ratio close to 1:15

35g water for bloom, bloom time 30s

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

That is: 30-120-225

Cake Dripper

The cake dripper, also called the wave dripper, has three holes at the bottom. Its flat design allows for even water flow and is not as fast as cone-shaped drippers, making it more suitable for coffees that can withstand longer extraction. The cake dripper uses the creases in the filter paper to replace flow grooves, not directly adhering to the dripper, reducing the contact area between paper and dripper while creating the maximum extraction area. On one hand, this helps concentrate extraction, allowing hot water to filter down evenly and smoothly, making coffee extraction more successful; on the other hand, it also slows down the cooling rate.

Parameters & technique: Grind size BG 5R (Chinese standard 20-mesh screen pass rate 58%), water temperature 90°C, coffee-to-water ratio 1:15. 38g water for 30-second bloom, when pouring to 130g water, pause, wait for water level to drop just before exposing the coffee bed, continue pouring to 226g, when water level drops just before exposing the coffee bed, remove the dripper (timing starts from bloom), extraction time is 2:08.

Flavor: Entry has grapefruit, cherry tomato, and orange flavors, with toffee sweetness in the aftertaste, overall quite balanced.

After comparing Gesha coffees from Panama, Costa Rica, Colombia, and Ethiopia, FrontStreet Coffee found that most Gesha coffees have rich floral aromas, delicate citrus and berry acidity upon entry, round oolong tea fragrance, and overall very rich flavor layers. Ethiopian Gesha coffee tends more toward berry flavors, with typical African characteristics, giving an overall softer impression; Central American Gesha coffees have more prominent citrus acidity and are overall more balanced.

Important Notice :

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Tel:020 38364473