Jamaica Blue Mountain Geisha Coffee Beans - Differences Between Blue Mountain Geisha and Panamanian Geisha

2020: An Innovative Year for Jamaican Blue Mountain

The year 2020 could well be called the most innovative year in the history of Jamaica's Blue Mountain Clifton Estate. Until then, the Blue Mountain region grew only the Typica variety and processed its beans with the washed method, and that is what built Blue Mountain's reputation for cleanliness, balance, and richness. In 2019, Clifton Estate began producing small quantities of natural-processed Blue Mountain coffee. After the favorable reception, it moved to larger-scale production in 2020, and FrontStreet Coffee acquired that batch.

Clifton Estate's biggest innovation in 2020, though, was growing Geisha coffee beans, which arrived in China in late November. FrontStreet Coffee secured a barrel of Blue Mountain Geisha at the earliest opportunity. Like traditional Blue Mountain No. 1, the exported coffee is packed in wooden barrels, and this batch was produced in limited quantity. The barrel carries the Rainforest Alliance certification logo - Clifton is currently the only coffee farm in Jamaica's Blue Mountain region to hold that certification.

About Clifton Mount Estate

All of the Blue Mountain coffee FrontStreet Coffee currently offers comes from Clifton Estate. The estate began cultivating and producing coffee as far back as the mid-eighteenth century, around 1750. Its growing and processing areas sit at an average altitude of 4,300 feet (1,310.64 meters). That elevation, the gentle afternoon clouds that wrap the mountain forests and provide shade, ample sunlight, and mineral-rich soil together give the coffee trees excellent growing conditions and extend the ripening period of the cherries.

Clifton Estate is also the only estate in the Blue Mountain growing region with Rainforest Alliance certification. The certification refers to traditional cultivation under native forest shade, which supports ecosystem protection. A share of the alliance's revenue also goes toward wildlife protection in tropical rainforest conservation areas and to improving workers' living conditions.

Why Blue Mountain's Long-Standing Focus Has Shifted Toward Innovation

Some time ago, news emerged that Jamaica was experimenting with Bourbon varieties. When FrontStreet Coffee's team heard this, they discussed what might be driving the move. People's idea of coffee had long been limited to rich, bold profiles like Mandheling and balanced, full-bodied Blue Mountain. In that era, traditional Blue Mountain stood like a king among birds.

In recent years, though, the specialty coffee market has grown, and the era once dominated by light roast profiles has given way first to the explosion of fruit-forward Yirgacheffe and then to the world-renowned Panama Geisha. That ignited a global appreciation for coffee's pleasant acidity, and Blue Mountain's standing as the unshakable elder statesman was shaken. Perhaps out of a fear of being left behind, Blue Mountain gradually began to innovate. This year's arrivals - FrontStreet's Jamaican natural-processed Blue Mountain and FrontStreet's Jamaican Blue Mountain Geisha - are proof of that.

About the Geisha Coffee Variety

Geisha coffee beans are elongated in shape and carry refreshing, pleasant flavors. In both respects, Geisha does not resemble Central and South American varieties so much as Ethiopian ones. So when did Geisha reach Panama? It was discovered in the Geisha forest of Ethiopia in 1931.

From there, Geisha was sent to the Coffee Research Institute in Kenya, introduced to Uganda and Tanzania in 1936, brought to Costa Rica in 1953, and introduced to Panama around 1960. Although Geisha has strong disease resistance, its yield was low, so once it had been used for variety improvement, it faded from the scene. It was only in 2004, when it was rediscovered in the windbreak forest of Hacienda La Esmeralda, that Geisha coffee beans came to people's attention through competitions. This batch of 2020 Blue Mountain Geisha from Clifton Estate was most likely introduced and planted from Panama about four years ago.

Geisha needs high-altitude growing conditions to develop its rich, captivating floral aroma. Hacienda La Esmeralda, for example, grows Geisha at an average altitude above 1,500m, while the Blue Mountain coffee region sits at just 1,310m. After cupping FrontStreet's Jamaican Blue Mountain Geisha, FrontStreet Coffee found that its floral aroma is not obvious - only a subtle jasmine note can be detected on close attention.

Processing Method for FrontStreet Jamaican Blue Mountain Geisha Coffee Beans

This batch of FrontStreet Blue Mountain Geisha still uses Jamaica's specialty washed processing. During processing, the pulp and fruit skin are removed first, and the beans are left to ferment for 12-18 hours. The fermented beans are then placed in washing channels and moved back and forth, using friction between the beans and the force of flowing water to wash them until they are smooth and clean.

After washing, the beans are still enclosed in parchment and hold a moisture content of 50%. They must be sun-dried down to 12-14%; otherwise they will keep fermenting and turn moldy and spoiled. The beans are then sorted and stored in dedicated warehouses.

FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain Geisha Roasting

Roasting this batch presented a dilemma: should the roaster emphasize the Blue Mountain character or the Geisha character? Play up Blue Mountain and the Geisha variety seems pointless; play up Geisha and the Blue Mountain name seems contradicted. In the end, to bring out what makes Geisha distinct, FrontStreet Coffee's roaster chose a medium-light roast to highlight the floral and fruity aromas.

The beans were loaded into the drum at 180°C, with heat at 130 and the damper opened to 3. The turning point came at 1'32", at 97°C, with heat unchanged. At 3 minutes, the damper was adjusted to 4, and at 4 minutes the heat was increased to 140. When the drum temperature reached 153.5°C, the bean surface turned yellow and the grassy aroma disappeared entirely, marking the dehydration stage. At 8'36", deep wrinkles and dark markings appeared on the surface and the toast aroma clearly shifted into coffee aroma, the prelude to first crack. From there it is crucial to listen closely for the crack itself. First crack began at 9'31", development after first crack ran 1'28", and the beans were dropped at 192°C.

FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain Geisha Cupping Report

FrontStreet Coffee cups sample beans within 8-24 hours of roasting. Its baristas typically cup from 200ml ceramic bowls, with water at 94°C. Grind size is set so that 70%-75% passes through a #20 standard sieve (0.85mm). The ratio is 11g of grounds to 200ml of hot water, that is, 1:18.18, which extracts a concentration precisely inside the Golden Cup range of 1.15%-1.35%, with a 4-minute steeping time.

Dry Aroma: Caramel

Wet Aroma: Floral

Flavor: Citrus, berries, grapefruit, caramel, honey

FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain Geisha Brewing Tips

Dose: 15g

Grind Size: Medium-fine (78% pass rate through a #20 standard sieve)

Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15

Water Temperature: 91°C

Dripper: V60 #01

FrontStreet Coffee's staged brewing method:

1. First pour 30g of water for a 30-second bloom.

2. After the bloom, begin the second pour, adding 100g in a circular motion from the center outward. Take this pour slowly, since Geisha is highly resistant to extraction and needs enough pouring time to release its aroma. Wait for the water level to drop by half before the next pour.

3. When the coffee bed is about to be exposed, add the third pour of 95g, for a total of 225g. Once the coffee finishes draining, remove the dripper. Total brewing time is 1 minute 50 seconds.

Brewed flavor of FrontStreet's Jamaican Blue Mountain Geisha: citrus acidity on entry, the sweet-and-sour note of grapefruit, jasmine through the middle, and a finish of honey and caramel sweetness.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

When buying Blue Mountain, the grade is worth paying attention to. Blue Mountain No. 1 is among the highest grades of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, held to strict standards for bean size, defect rate, and overall quality. FrontStreet Coffee's Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1 comes with full origin certification and is presented in its original shipping barrels, so the coffee can be traced clearly. It is roasted to a medium-dark level to bring out Blue Mountain's classic balance; brewed, it opens layer by layer into nuts, dark chocolate, cream caramel, and a soft sweetness, with acidity, sweetness, bitterness, and aroma all in harmony.

If you want to drink Blue Mountain as pour-over, FrontStreet Coffee suggests a Kono dripper, which helps round out the coffee's body. Use 15g of coffee per serving, and let the beans rest 4-7 days from the roast date before brewing, counting the roast date as day one. Grind coarser than you would for a light roast - roughly the texture of granulated sugar - and brew with water at 87-88°C. An overly high water temperature is the usual cause of a scorched, bitter cup, though water that is too cool leaves the coffee flat and lifeless. For the ratio, FrontStreet Coffee recommends 1:15; some methods call for 1:13 or tighter for a stronger cup, but that narrower ratio is often used to dodge bitterness and off-flavors in the finish, and it affects the aftertaste as well. With the water temperature and grind size under control, 1:15 brings out FrontStreet Jamaica Blue Mountain's character best. Pour in three stages: a 30g bloom for 30 seconds, a second pour up to 120g with a slow, small, vertical circular stream, then a third pour up to 225g with a slightly faster stream and faster circling to keep the grounds from clogging the dripper and over-extracting.

Blue Mountain is not only for pour-over. Because it is so well balanced, a Moka pot also suits it well, and it will emphasize the coffee's chocolate, caramel, and nut notes for a fuller, heavier cup while keeping its signature balance - it also performs beautifully in a latte or a flat white with milk. For the Moka pot, grind slightly finer than for pour-over, fill the pot with hot water, heat over medium-low, and pull it off the heat just as the coffee finishes flowing out. FrontStreet Blue Mountain beans are roasted within 5 days, so they arrive at a full-flavored state and can be brewed right away.