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Distribution of South American Coffee Producing Regions: Panama's New King of Specialty Coffee

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/27, Professional coffee knowledge exchange. For more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style). FrontStreet Coffee - Introduction to Panamanian Geisha Coffee. South American producing countries: 1. Brazil 2. Colombia 3. Ecuador 4. Peru. The Geisha variety was discovered in the Geisha forest of Ethiopia in 1931 and then sent to

FrontStreet Coffee - Introduction to Panama Geisha Coffee

Professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style)

South American Producing Countries:

1. Brazil
2. Colombia
3. Ecuador
4. Peru

Origins of Geisha

The Geisha variety was discovered in the Geisha forest of Ethiopia in 1931 and then sent to the Coffee Research Institute in Kenya.

In 1936, it was introduced to Uganda and Tanzania.

In 1953, Costa Rica introduced it.

In Panama, during the 1970s, Mr. Francisco Serracin from the Hacienda La Esmeralda obtained seeds from CATIE in Costa Rica and began cultivating Geisha coffee. Due to its extremely low yield and the need to participate in bidding, this coffee bean can be considered truly precious.

History

In 1931, Geisha was quietly exported from Geisha Mountain in southwestern Ethiopia (coincidentally sharing the same pronunciation as the Japanese word "geisha") to Kenya. It traveled through Tanzania and Costa Rica, and in the 1960s, it was eventually transplanted to Panama. After nearly half a century of obscurity, it suddenly rose to prominence, defeating established varieties like Bourbon, Caturra, Catuai, and Typica to win first place in the Panama's Best Cupping Competition in 2005, 2006, and 2007.

In 2007, at the International Coffee Tasting Competition hosted by the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA), Geisha once again claimed the championship, with a bidding price of $130 per pound, setting the highest price record for competition beans in history. It is reported that subsequent Panama's Best Cupping Competition activities were divided into Geisha and non-Geisha categories to prevent Geisha from overshadowing other varieties. Geisha belongs to the Typica family, yet it gained fame more than seventy years after leaving Ethiopia, further confirming the notion that Ethiopia is a genetic treasure trove of Arabica coffee. Simply giving away one variety is enough to create waves in the coffee market.

Geisha is cultivated in many regions worldwide and is the new king of specialty coffee. Among these, Latin American countries such as Panama, Guatemala, and Colombia produce higher quality Geisha with corresponding higher prices.

Knowledge Point:

GEISHA COFFEE shares its pinyin with the Japanese "geisha," so many people habitually call it "Geisha Coffee," but it has no connection to Japan whatsoever. Therefore, some people directly translate it as "Guixia Coffee" based on its phonetic transliteration.

In Brief:

FrontStreet Coffee is a specialized coffee research center, delighted to share coffee knowledge with everyone. We share without reservation simply to help more friends fall in love with coffee. Additionally, we hold three discounted coffee events every month because FrontStreet Coffee wants to provide more friends with the best coffee at the lowest possible prices—this has been our mission for the past six years!