What Coffee Varieties Are Grown in Panama? Introduction to Panama's Coffee Varieties

FrontStreet Coffee's Panama Emerald Estate Green Label Geisha Coffee Introduction

Panama lies near the equator and has a tropical marine climate with humid days and cool nights. The average annual temperature ranges from 23 to 27C. The year divides into a dry season and a rainy season, with average annual precipitation of 1,500-2,500 millimetres.

The microclimates of the Panamanian highlands are the most important resource that makes Panama's specialty coffee unique. The east-to-west orientation of the country allows cold air currents to flow through the central mountain range and converge above 6,500 feet (approximately 1,981 metres), creating a range of microclimates in the Boquete and Volcan-Candela regions and making them the main production areas for Panama's specialty coffee.

These specialty coffees are cultivated in the nutrient-rich, balanced soil of the Baru Volcano region, one of the high volcanoes of Central America.

Baru Volcano rises above 11,400 feet, and the surrounding land is rich in fertile soil, providing excellent conditions for sowing and cultivating Panama's specialty coffee.

Panama coffee is most famous for its rare treasure, the Geisha variety.

The Geisha variety was discovered in the Geisha forest of Ethiopia in 1931 and then sent to the Coffee Research Institute in Kenya. It was introduced to Uganda and Tanzania in 1936 and to Costa Rica in 1953. Panama began cultivating Geisha in 1963, when Mr. Don Pachi Francisco Serracin, then working at the Panama Ministry of Agriculture, obtained seeds from the renowned Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE) in Costa Rica. Because of its extremely low yield and the need to bid at auction, the bean is hard to come by.

Geisha is grown in many regions around the world and is the new king of specialty coffee, with particularly high quality and prices in Latin American countries such as Panama, Guatemala and Colombia.

The dry aroma of Geisha is very bright and uplifting, with characteristics of rose and jasmine, and it can also bring out grapefruit and citrus aromas. A light roast reveals nutty aromas; the wet aroma also has hazelnut notes and brings out more floral character. In terms of flavour, the initial stage may appear somewhat gentle and reserved compared with the aromatic lift that precedes it. As it cools slightly, the floral and fruit flavours grow with the falling temperature. The cold aroma is exceptionally outstanding, featuring sweet preserved fruit, rose hips, orange glaze, strawberry jam, hints of pine, cherry, vanilla and rose that gradually fade to reveal lemon-like fruit notes. This is a coffee that can be praised with numerous adjectives, with a sweet aftertaste.

Emerald Estate Green Label [Reserve Batch]

Cultivation altitude: 1,600-1,800 metres

Micro-batch blend from three different estates: Jaramillo, Quiel, Canas Verdes

Although not the highest grade of auction beans, this grade of Geisha still carries the classic flavours of Geisha coffee: floral, fruity, citrus acidity and a thick, juicy mouthfeel.

Perfectly ripe coffee fruit is selected to create rich sweetness, bright fruit acidity and delicious flavour.

This grade of Geisha is also available in both washed and natural processed raw beans.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

FrontStreet Coffee's Panama Boquete Geisha is the entry point to the flavour described above. As an approachable Geisha, it lets you taste the classic high-quality Panamanian profile at a friendly price, with its orange-blossom honey note, oolong tea character, delicate fruit acidity and clear layers.

For the top of the range, FrontStreet Coffee's Emerald Estate Red Label and Green Label are the reference points. The Red Label, formally Esmeralda Special, is grown between 1,600 and 1,800 metres, must score above 90 points in cupping and carries its own lot number, with every bean from a single plot; the Green Label, formally Private Collection, blends micro-lots from several plots such as Jaramillo and Canas Verdes to express the estate's signature high-altitude Geisha character at a more accessible price. If you want to explore Ethiopian Geisha, FrontStreet Coffee's Gesha Village Gold Label is a Gesha 1931 selection, about 10% of the village's output and among its finest lots outside auction, while the Red Label is a Gori Gesha variety scoring 88 points or above on the SCA 100-point scale with full traceability.

Geisha is a medium-light, floral and fruit-forward coffee with a hard bean that can sink and clog the dripper, so FrontStreet Coffee recommends a grind of about 78% passing a Chinese standard No. 20 sieve, close to fine sugar, and water at 91C. Use 15g of coffee in a small Hario V60 with a 1:16 ratio, then brew in three stages: bloom with 30g of water for 30 seconds, pour in a small circular stream to 125g, wait for the bed to drop halfway, and continue to 225g. Total extraction should take about 2 minutes 10 seconds to 2 minutes 20 seconds.