How to Properly Brew Panama Geisha - Flavor Profile of Hacienda La Esmeralda Red Geisha Pour Over

For more specialty coffee knowledge, please follow our WeChat official account: FrontStreet Coffee

For friends who don't regularly drink coffee, you may have heard of Blue Mountain coffee even if you haven't tried it. Everyone knows that Blue Mountain coffee is the coffee among specialty coffees. But do you know about Geisha coffee? Geisha coffee is also one of the most expensive coffees in the world. The flavor of Geisha coffee is no less than Blue Mountain—it only offers richer flavors than Blue Mountain coffee.

So you must think this Geisha coffee is very expensive, right? Of course, but it's worth every penny! FrontStreet Coffee's roasted Red Label Geisha coffee offers full guarantees in both brand and quality. More importantly, it provides exceptional value-for-money, with each 100-gram package priced at only 350 yuan. Calculating at 15 grams of coffee beans per cup, one package can make 6 cups of coffee, with each cup costing only about 60 yuan. Compared to cafés that charge over 100 yuan per cup, this is truly a conscientious recommendation.

FrontStreet Coffee introduces everyone to Geisha coffee:

Geisha coffee grows in Ethiopia, so why did it become famous in Panama? In fact, Geisha was discovered in the Geisha forest in Ethiopia in 1931 and sent to top coffee research institutes in Kenya. In 1936, Geisha coffee was introduced to Uganda and Tanzania. In 1953, Costa Rica also began introducing this coffee. Finally, in the 1970s, Mr. Francisco Serracin from the Tumba Seven farm in Panama received seeds from CATIE in Costa Rica and began planting Geisha coffee. Due to extremely low yields and the need for bidding, it was just an unknown coffee tree at that time. It had low production, tall trees, was difficult to harvest, and was even planted as a windbreak tree—quite pitiful when you think about it.

Nearly half a century later, Panama Geisha Hacienda La Esmeralda separated it from other varieties in 2003, and in 2004, it became the champion of the BOP competition. The Geisha variety officially entered everyone's line of sight. Therefore, the taste of Geisha coffee from Panama's Hacienda La Esmeralda is indeed slightly superior to that from Geisha Village, and for this reason, Geisha coffee from Panama's Hacienda La Esmeralda is so impressive.

Let's learn about the Hacienda La Esmeralda that made Geisha famous

It's the same Geisha, so why couldn't it become famous in Ethiopia, yet at Panama's Hacienda La Esmeralda, it became famous overnight and unstoppable, making the whole world study and grow Geisha?

Actually, this is just like we often say: local environments nurture local people. People in every place are related to the local environment, let alone coffee, which is an agricultural crop! Geisha coffee is particularly picky about its growing environment, requiring high altitude, cloud shade, fertile soil, and sufficient accumulated temperature. The climate has shaped Panama's coffee.

Panama borders Costa Rica and Colombia. The east-to-west environment allows cold air currents to converge over the central mountains at altitudes above 6,500 meters, creating a very unique microclimate in the Boquete and Piedra de Candela regions. This area has temperatures and rainfall perfectly suitable for plant growth, and this microclimate region is the main production area for Panama coffee. In addition to climate, the land around this area is rich in nutrients, and the fertile soil provides perfect growing conditions for coffee, shaping many unique, high-quality coffees. Hacienda La Esmeralda is a witness to this elite trend era.

What's special about Esmeralda Special Selection Geisha?

To many people, Geisha feels like a luxury in the coffee world. In fact, the name Geisha comes from the elegant translation of "Geisha," belonging to a coffee variety, the same type of designation as Typica and Bourbon. In reality, we rarely hear product names directly called Typica coffee beans or Bourbon coffee beans; they are quietly written in the variety column. However, Geisha appears in many product names.

The Geisha from Esmeralda Special Selection is what we often hear as the Red Label. It selects Geisha beans grown at altitudes of 1600-1800 meters, with cupping scores above 90 points, from the Jaramillo and Canas Verdess producing regions. The independent bidding organized by Hacienda La Esmeralda—only the Geisha batches from designated plots that are put up for bidding become the competitive Red Label.

So how should Geisha coffee be brewed?

Since Geisha coffee has such distinct characteristics and is relatively expensive, not fully extracting its flavors would be somewhat wasteful. Therefore, we can customize a brewing scheme specifically for Geisha.

FrontStreet Coffee's Geisha Brewing Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee considers that Geisha coffee beans are all lightly roasted. Light roast beans have a lower coffee substance dissolution rate than dark roasts. Therefore, to ensure full extraction of Geisha flavors, higher water temperature is used for brewing, while also choosing a finer grind size.

FrontStreet Coffee recommends using these brewing parameters: Hario V60 dripper, 90°C water temperature, 15g coffee dose, 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, and medium-fine grind (80% passing through China standard #20 sieve).

FrontStreet Coffee's Geisha Brewing Method

FrontStreet Coffee uses segmented extraction, also called three-stage brewing. Bloom with 30g of water for 30 seconds. When infusing water to 125g with a small circular flow, make a segment. Continue infusing to 225g when the water level is about to expose the coffee bed, then stop pouring. Remove the dripper when the water has finished dripping. Time from the beginning of pouring, with extraction time at 2'00". Then take the entire cup of coffee, shake it evenly, and pour it into a cup for tasting.

Flavor Description

Red Label Geisha: Bright rose and citrus aromas, brown rice, berries, apricots, complex fruits, honey, with a rich juice sensation, rich flavor layers, and noticeable sweetness.

How to make Geisha Americano?

Americano can be said to be the simplest espresso-based coffee because Americano consists of only two parts: espresso and water, with iced Americano having added ice. However, don't take Americano lightly—the simplest part is also the most technically challenging part. Americano is often the espresso drink that best tests a barista's espresso extraction technique.

Compared to milk coffees like lattes, Americano, with less influence from milk on the coffee's taste, best showcases the inherent flavor of the coffee beans. Many barista friends choose Americano when visiting other cafés—first for convenience, and second to know the quality standard.

FrontStreet Coffee uses 20g of coffee beans to extract 40g of coffee liquid with an extraction time of 28-30 seconds for making Geisha Americano.

When making hot Americano, you need to preheat the cup with hot water, then pour in hot water, and finally pour the extracted espresso. The ratio for Americano is generally between 1:6 to 1:8. After multiple adjustments, FrontStreet Coffee chose a 1:6 ratio, meaning 40g of coffee liquid mixed with 240g of hot water.

Similarly, when making iced Americano, pre-cool the cup with ice cubes, then pour in water, and finally pour in the espresso. Because ice cubes need to be added, FrontStreet Coffee's iced Americano uses a 1:7 ratio—40g of coffee liquid mixed with 280g of ice-water mixture, containing 180g of ice and 100g of water.

Can coffee beans be ground into powder in advance?

For coffee brewing, FrontStreet Coffee always recommends that freshly roasted coffee beans better showcase the rich flavors of coffee. Therefore, all coffee beans sold by FrontStreet Coffee are roasted within 5 days. FrontStreet Coffee's roasting philosophy is "Freshly roasted good coffee," ensuring that every customer who places an order receives the freshest coffee. The coffee 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's help to grind the beans, which is also fine. However, FrontStreet Coffee must remind you: once coffee beans are ground into powder in advance, they need to be brewed promptly. If already ground into coffee powder, there's no need for further resting because during transportation, the pressure from carbon dioxide in the packaging also helps round out the coffee's flavor, so you can brew a cup immediately upon receiving the coffee powder.

However, coffee powder oxidizes relatively quickly after contact with air, meaning the coffee's flavor will dissipate more quickly, and the coffee's taste won't be as good. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee recommends buying whole beans and grinding fresh before brewing to better appreciate the rich flavors of coffee.

Of course, FrontStreet Coffee has over 50 types of single-origin coffee beans, some expensive and some affordable. The best recommendation is FrontStreet Coffee's 7 types of daily beans. So-called daily beans refer to the most representative coffee beans from 7 producing countries, offering excellent value-for-money. For friends just starting with coffee, this is the best way to understand their own preferences and discover their taste. Of course, if possible, you should try them all—after all, they're from different producing countries. Although you can't visit those producing countries one by one to taste them on site, you can experience them here at FrontStreet Coffee!

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style)

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee's private WeChat account: qjcoffeex

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473