Honey Processed Geisha Coffee Beans - Panama Boquete Region Honey Processed Geisha Pour-Over Brewing Ratios

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In many people's impression, Panama's Geisha coffee beans are either natural or washed processed to highlight the berry or floral flavors of Geisha coffee. For example, FrontStreet Coffee's Emerald Manor Red Label Geisha uses the natural process, with coffee flavors characterized by rich juiciness and rose aromatics. FrontStreet Coffee's Emerald Manor Green Label, however, uses the washed process, highlighting the rich fresh floral notes and bright citrus-like acidity of Geisha coffee beans. In this article, FrontStreet Coffee will introduce another processing method that's "sweet as honey" — honey-processed Geisha coffee beans.

Boquete Growing Region

FrontStreet Coffee recently acquired a batch of honey-processed coffee beans from Panama's Boquete region. Boquete is a high-altitude volcanic region where Baru Volcano provides extremely fertile soil. The towering terrain, cool and humid air, varying sunlight, abundant rainfall, and converging rivers create the perfect conditions for high-quality Panamanian specialty coffee.

Within the Boquete region are many excellent estates. Besides the famous Emerald Manor, there are also renowned estates like Elida Estate and Kotowa Duncan Estate, all producing high-quality specialty coffee. This is attributed to the fertile volcanic ash soil from Baru Volcano and the cool, foggy, mountainous geographical environment that creates unique microclimates. When cupping coffee beans from this region, FrontStreet Coffee found flavors ranging from cocoa to fruit notes with subtle acidity.

FrontStreet Coffee — Panama Honey-Processed Geisha Coffee Beans

Origin: Panama, Boquete
Processing Method: Honey Process
Altitude: 1600-1650 meters
Variety: Geisha

Coffee Honey Processing Method

The honey processing method emerged in the mid to late 21st century in Costa Rica, when many micro-mills began to appear in the country. Coffee farmers invested in their own post-harvest equipment, allowing them to process most of their coffee independently. This meant they had greater control over their coffee's style and character. Since Costa Rica predominantly used washed or semi-washed processing methods at the time, farmers created the "sweet as honey" honey processing method to make their micro-mill coffee flavors stand out.

The special feature of honey processing is that after removing the outer pulp from the coffee beans, a layer of viscous gelatinous substance remains. The coffee beans with this mucilage are then directly dried, allowing the sugars in the mucilage to transfer into the coffee beans, enhancing their sweetness. Through cupping this honey-processed Geisha coffee, FrontStreet Coffee discovered that it not only preserves the fresh floral notes of Geisha green beans but also brings apple-like sweetness to this Panama Boquete Geisha.

Geisha Coffee Beans

Geisha coffee beans were discovered in the forests of Ethiopia in 1931, then made their way through Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania before reaching Panama in 1960. Initially, due to low yields, Geisha coffee beans remained obscure in a small corner of Panama's coffee-growing regions.

It wasn't until 2004 when the owner of Emerald Manor discovered subtle floral aromas hidden among the harvested coffee beans that were truly captivating. Following the trail, they discovered this obscure "little可怜" Geisha coffee bean, harvested it separately, and entered it into competition. It became famous overnight, subsequently rising to the forefront of the specialty coffee market.

FrontStreet Coffee Roasting Records

When FrontStreet Coffee received this Panama Boquete honey-processed Geisha, opening the packaging revealed delicate floral aromas and fresh apple fragrance. Therefore, a medium-light roast was used to highlight the captivating aromas of this Panama Boquete Geisha and the sweetness brought by the honey processing.

Using a Yangjia 800N semi-direct flame roaster with a 300g batch size. Preheat the drum to 170°C before loading, adjust heat to 120, damper to 3. Temperature recovery at 1'42", maintain heat; at 140°C, keep heat unchanged, open damper to 4. At 5'25", beans turn yellow, grassy aroma disappears, entering dehydration stage. At 166°C, reduce heat to 100, keep damper at 4. At 176°C, adjust heat to 80, damper unchanged.

At 8'00", dehydration completes, wrinkles and dark spots appear on bean surface, toast aroma transforms to coffee aroma, signaling pre-first crack. Pay attention to listen for first crack sounds. At 8'37", first crack begins, open damper fully to 5, heat unchanged. Post-first crack development time 1'28", drop at 190.5°C.

FrontStreet Coffee Cupping Report

FrontStreet Coffee conducts cupping within 8-24 hours after roasting sample coffee beans. FrontStreet Coffee's baristas typically use 200ml ceramic cups for cupping. Water temperature for cupping is 94°C. Grind size is controlled to pass 70%-75% through a #20 standard sieve (0.85mm). Ratio: 11g coffee powder to 200ml hot water, i.e., 1:18.18, which extracts concentration within the 1.15%-1.35% Golden Cup range. Steeping time is 4 minutes.

Dry Aroma: Lemon
Wet Aroma: Orange
Flavor: Lemon, plum, sweet orange, apple, cream, jasmine, fermented sweetness, oolong tea

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Tips

Dripper: V60 #01
Coffee Amount: 15g
Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:16
Water Temperature: 90°C
Grind Size: Medium-fine (79% pass-through rate on #20 standard sieve)

FrontStreet Coffee's segmented brewing: 1. First pour 30g of water, let bloom for 30 seconds. 2. After blooming, pour the second segment of water, spiraling from center outward with 110g. This pour can be done slowly as Geisha coffee is very extraction-resistant and requires sufficient pouring time to extract its aromatics. After pouring, wait for water level to drop to half. 3. When the coffee bed is about to be exposed, pour the third segment of 100g water, totaling 240g. Wait for coffee to finish filtering, then remove the dripper. Total brewing time is 2 minutes 00 seconds.

[FrontStreet Coffee Panama Boquete Honey-Processed Geisha] Brewing Flavor: Aroma of fermentation and floral notes. Initial taste reveals citrus and lemon acidity, mid-palate brings creamy sweetness, and the finish presents apple green tea sensation with sucrose and honey aftertaste.

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee's private WeChat: kaixinguoguo0925

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473