Top 10 Most Delicious Coffee Beans: Panama, the Holy Land for Geisha Coffee Origins

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FrontStreet Coffee - Introduction to Geisha Coffee

The Geisha variety was first discovered in 1931 from the Geisha forest in Ethiopia and then sent to the Coffee Research Institute in Kenya. In 1936, it was introduced to Uganda and Tanzania, and Costa Rica imported it in 1953. Panama began growing Geisha coffee in the 1970s when Mr. Francisco Serracin from the DON PACHI estate received seeds from CATIE in Costa Rica.

Don't be fooled by Geisha's current popularity - for a long time, it didn't receive much attention. It wasn't until Don Pachi brought Geisha from the small town of GESHA in southwestern Ethiopia to Costa Rica, and then it made its way south to Panama's Hacienda La Esmeralda, that things began to change.

If Geisha hadn't won the 2004 "Best of Panama" (BOP) competition with a cupping score of 94.6, breaking the BOP record and taking first place, this delicate, disease-prone, low-yield variety with tall sparse branches and unremarkable appearance would never have captured anyone's attention.

In the following years, Geisha was unstoppable, not only sweeping the top spots in BOP competitions but also winning various championships. Among these, while Hacienda La Esmeralda maintained consistently high standards, Geisha from other estates also delivered exceptional performances.

Because of its tall growth and low yield, Geisha was once rejected by Panamanian growers and used as a windbreak for other high-yield varieties. Today's Geisha has transformed like a sparrow into a phoenix or an ugly duckling into a swan - truly an inspiring story.

After half a century, Panamanian estates represented by Hacienda La Esmeralda and Elida Estate gradually gained fame from the 21st century onwards, winning numerous awards through the Geisha variety. Geisha coffee began to sweep across the entire coffee industry. Currently, Geisha is grown in many regions worldwide, with high-quality beans from Latin American countries like Panama, Guatemala, and Colombia, with Panamanian Geisha commanding the highest prices. In recent years, the newly famous Geisha Village in Ethiopia has further expanded the Geisha phenomenon.

Geisha belongs to the Ethiopian heirloom variety, and after traveling around the world, it developed its characteristic Geisha flavor profile in Panama. During the breeding process, Panamanian estates discovered that different plants show two different colors in the young shoots at the branch tips - either new green or reddish-bronze, known as Green-Tip or Bronze-tip.

Key Point

The reason Geisha is more precious than gold is due to its extremely low yield and the need to participate in auctions, making it very difficult to obtain Geisha green beans.

In Brief

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