What is the Grade Level of Gesha Coffee Beans? The Difference Between Panama Hacienda La Esmeralda Green Label and Red Label Gesha Grades

Geisha Coffee: The World's Most Prestigious Coffee Bean

What is the status level of Geisha coffee beans? FrontStreet Coffee tells you that according to the current situation, Geisha coffee is the most famous, highest-grade, and most expensive coffee bean after Blue Mountain coffee! Even before seeing the bean, you've likely heard its name, which demonstrates how renowned Geisha coffee beans have become. If you want to understand the story of Geisha coffee, you must learn about Hacienda La Esmeralda—a tale of a talent scout discovering a hidden gem.

Through later traceability, we learned that Geisha coffee beans originally grew in the Kaffa forest region of western Ethiopia. Later, they made their way to Panama, where they transformed into the world's most sought-after premium coffee beans. FrontStreet Coffee has shared in other articles that coffee is an agricultural product, and its flavor is closely related to its growing environment. Geisha variety coffee beans are particularly picky about their growing conditions. Only in regions with high altitudes, cloud cover or abundant shade trees, and fertile soil can you harvest coffee beans with rich, enchanting floral aromas and delicate, elegant fruit acidity. FrontStreet Coffee has discovered a peculiar phenomenon with Geisha coffee—the more rugged the environment, the better the coffee's flavor.

Panama's Ideal Coffee Growing Region

Panama's climate is highly suitable for coffee cultivation. Panamanian Geisha coffee beans are world-famous, and the entire Panama coffee cultivation centers around the Chiriquí volcano region. Among these, the most beautiful is the Boquete region, where得天独厚的 volcanic fertile soil, abundant moisture, regular rainfall, dense vegetation, and cloud cover nurture the coffee trees, thereby producing high-quality coffee beans with rich flavors. Many different microclimates also contribute to producing coffee beans with various flavor characteristics. Hacienda La Esmeralda is also located within this region. The neighboring Volcán region has recently become another important area for cultivating high-quality Geisha coffee.

Since Geisha coffee became famous, coffee estates around the world have been cultivating Geisha coffee, including Yunnan in China. Many famous estates in Panama also grow Geisha coffee, such as Finca Deborah and Elida Estate, but they are clearly overshadowed by Hacienda La Esmeralda's fame. FrontStreet Coffee has acquired Geisha coffee from these estates, and their flavors are all captivating! Today, FrontStreet Coffee will introduce you to the estate that made Geisha coffee famous—Hacienda La Esmeralda.

Hacienda La Esmeralda Panama

The Geisha coffee variety was discovered in the Geisha forest of Ethiopia in 1931. Later, Geisha was sent to the Coffee Research Institute in Kenya. In 1936, it was introduced to Uganda and Tanzania. In 1953, it was introduced to Costa Rica, and in 1970, to Panama. However, according to FrontStreet Coffee's understanding, Geisha coffee received little attention during this period because Geisha coffee trees have very low yields, are difficult to cultivate, and have low economic benefits, so nobody paid much attention to them.

Later, the owner of Hacienda La Esmeralda in Panama and his son discovered that Geisha coffee beans had unique flavors, quite different from the coffee cultivated locally in Panama. In 2003, they separated the Geisha variety for cultivation, and in 2004, they entered Geisha variety coffee beans in the BOP coffee competition, where they won the championship. Geisha coffee thus became famous overnight, appearing in the view of coffee enthusiasts worldwide, while also sparking a trend of cultivating Geisha coffee in Panama.

After years of experimentation, Hacienda La Esmeralda discovered that only Geisha beans harvested from coffee trees growing above 1,400 meters altitude can display the special flavors that Geisha beans should have. Therefore, the estate owners focused most of their energy on developing infrastructure to support excellent batch separation and precise processing, grading Geisha by planting area, with altitude as the primary factor and actual cupping results as secondary. In the past, Hacienda La Esmeralda's Geisha product series was divided into Red Label, Green Label, and Blue Label, with Red Label including both auction and non-auction batches. In 2022, Hacienda La Esmeralda modified its Geisha coffee products to elevate the positioning of its Geisha. The new classification includes Esmeralda Auction, Red Label, and Green Label.

Hacienda La Esmeralda Auction Geisha Coffee Beans

Esmeralda Auction is a brand that Hacienda La Esmeralda separated from Red Label in 2022. These batches can only be obtained through auction. As early as 2021, FrontStreet Coffee learned from a conversation with the estate owner Rachel that the current Esmeralda Special included both auction and non-auction batches, which made management confusing. She expressed that they would separate the auction batches in the future. Sure enough, Esmeralda Auction was launched in 2022, and on August 17, 2022 (Beijing time), the ES-W-3-1 batch sold for $2,755/kg, setting the highest price in Hacienda La Esmeralda's history.

Hacienda La Esmeralda Red Label Geisha Coffee Beans

Currently, Esmeralda Red Label is one of the more expensive coffee beans at FrontStreet Coffee. Some people ask whether expensive means better tasting? Everyone's taste is different, so it's hard to say for sure, but FrontStreet Coffee tells you this: Esmeralda Red Label is definitely an exceptionally delicious coffee! Red Label Geisha coffee beans are grown at altitudes between 1600-1800 meters, with cupping scores above 90 points, mainly from the Jaramillo and Canas Verdes regions. Red Label batches have either washed or natural processing methods.

Hacienda La Esmeralda Green Label Geisha Coffee Beans

Although Esmeralda Green Label isn't as expensive as Esmeralda Red Label, you'll find that at FrontStreet Coffee, Green Label is far more popular than Red Label! Although Green Label batches don't participate in auctions, the coffee beans maintain excellent quality. Green Label Geisha coffee beans are grown at altitudes between 1600-1800 meters, mainly mixed from different plots in Jaramillo, Canas Verdes, and other regions.

Due to the mixed approach from different plots, sometimes Green Label and Red Label can have very similar flavor profiles. Although the grade of Green Label Geisha coffee beans is not as high as Red Label, it has high clarity, with an overall tendency toward jasmine tea flavors, high acidity, and the natural-processed Green Label Geisha has good sweetness with pleasant acidity and sweetness, reminiscent of passion fruit and floral tea.

Customers often ask, "What's the difference between Red Label and Green Label?" FrontStreet Coffee offers an easy-to-understand reference: Red Label Geisha coffee beans can be traced back to the specific small plots where the coffee beans grew, while Green Label Geisha cannot be traced to specific plots. Hacienda La Esmeralda's Green Label Geisha coffee beans use a mixed cultivation model, so detailed plot information is not provided. It is precisely because of this that FrontStreet Coffee sometimes finds Green Label and Red Label can have extremely similar flavors. FrontStreet Coffee believes you don't necessarily need to drink auction-level coffee. First, because the price is indeed quite high; second, if you're just curious and want to try it, the non-auction batch Panamanian Esmeralda Red Label Geisha coffee beans from FrontStreet Coffee are also an excellent choice.

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Suggestions

For coffee brewing, FrontStreet Coffee suggests using freshly roasted coffee beans to maximize the rich flavors of the coffee. Coffee beans shipped by FrontStreet Coffee are all roasted within 5 days because FrontStreet Coffee deeply understands that coffee 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's resting period is about 4-7 days, so when customers receive it, it's at its peak flavor.

Of course, some customers need FrontStreet Coffee to grind the beans, which is also fine. However, FrontStreet Coffee must remind you: once coffee beans are ground in advance, 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's flavor, so you can brew a cup immediately upon receiving the ground coffee. However, ground coffee needs to be brewed promptly because ground coffee oxidizes quickly when exposed to air, meaning the coffee's flavor will dissipate more quickly, and the coffee won't taste as good. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee recommends purchasing whole beans and grinding them fresh before brewing to better appreciate the coffee's flavor.

FrontStreet Coffee Geisha Brewing Parameters

FrontStreet Coffee considers that this Geisha coffee bean is lightly roasted. Light-roasted beans have lower solubility rates than dark-roasted ones, so to ensure full extraction of Geisha flavors, we use higher water temperature for brewing while also choosing a finer grind size.

Because Geisha beans are quite hard and tend to sink and clog the drainage holes, we use a grind size with 80% pass-through through a Chinese standard #20 sieve (approximately fine sugar size). FrontStreet Coffee still chooses 15g of coffee, paired with Hario's V60 small-sized dripper, and recommends adjusting the brew ratio to 1:15. On one hand, this uses more water to maintain the coffee's extraction rate; on the other hand, it adjusts the coffee concentration to 1.15%, which is the optimal concentration for experiencing coffee's best flavors. Regarding water temperature, we maintain 91°C.

We use segmented extraction, blooming with 2 times the amount of water to coffee, meaning 30g of water for 30 seconds of blooming. The blooming process is necessary to allow the coffee grounds to release internal carbon dioxide gas, thereby making the subsequent extraction more stable. Using a small circular pour, add water to 125g in stages, then continue pouring to 225g and stop. Wait until the water in the dripper has finished dripping before removing the dripper. Time from the start of pouring until extraction completion is 2'00". Next, take the entire cup of coffee and shake it well before pouring into a cup for tasting.

FrontStreet Coffee Panamanian Esmeralda Red Label Geisha Coffee Bean Flavor Description: Bright rose and citrus aromas, brown rice, berries, apricots, complex fruits, honey, with a rich juice-like texture, rich flavor layers, and distinct sweetness.

FrontStreet Coffee Panamanian Esmeralda Green Label Geisha Coffee Bean Flavor Description: Rich jasmine floral aroma, high sweetness, citrus, berries, juice-like texture, cream, green tea, orange peel, cantaloupe, with overall rich flavor layers and a persistent floral and citrus aftertaste.

Of course, there are now many estates cultivating Geisha coffee, and Geisha coffee is quite famous, such as Panama's Finca Deborah. If you want to experience Geisha coffee flavors without spending so much money, you can also try Geisha blend coffees, which can also deliver Geisha coffee flavors, such as Panama's Mariposa coffee, Costa Rica's Mirasu coffee, and Colombia's Hanami coffee. These Geisha blend coffees are specialty coffees with excellent value!

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