What Grade is Panama Hacienda La Esmeralda Red Label Geisha? What's the Taste of Premium Geisha?

Hacienda La Esmeralda Red Label Geisha

Country of Origin: Panama

Region: Hacienda La Esmeralda

Variety: Panama Geisha

Processing Method: Natural Process

Altitude: 1500-1900 meters

Roast Level: Medium Roast

According to SCA recommendations, we suggest using 15g of coffee grounds with 225ml of water at 90-91°C, maintaining a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio.

Flavor notes include lychee, peach, Earl Grey tea, passion fruit, sweetness, multi-layered tropical fruit flavors, rose-like aromatics, with a long-lasting aftertaste.

Cupping Profile:

Dry Aroma: Jasmine, citrus

Wet Aroma: Citrus, lemon, honey

Palate: Lemon, honey, berries, orange peel, mango, cream, citrus, tea-like notes

The Hacienda La Esmeralda Story

Panama is located in Central America. As is well known, the Panama Canal was built by the United States and remained under American control for some time after its completion.

The construction of the Panama Canal led many American elites to move south in the late 20th century, partly for work requirements and partly to explore business opportunities. Hacienda La Esmeralda is a witness to that era.

In 1964, American banker Rudolph Peterson retired, moved to Panama, and purchased Hacienda La Esmeralda in Boquete, initially focusing on dairy farming.

Later, his son Price resigned from his medical position to assist his father in managing the farm. In 1987, they introduced Caturra and Catuai coffee varieties, and in 1994, established a washing processing plant, giving them their own coffee processing facility. In 1996, they acquired the nearby Jaramillo farm, which had an excellent geographical environment and superior original coffee varieties, incorporating it into Hacienda La Esmeralda.

The Jaramillo farm caught the attention of the Peterson father and son precisely because of its existing coffee beans, which carried pleasant orange and fruity floral aromas, different from the traditional taste of Panamanian coffee.

After cupping coffee beans from different areas of the farm, they discovered that the beans came from unknown coffee trees growing at the highest point of the farm. Due to their low yield, the previous owner had only used them as windbreak trees. However, the Petersons recognized their potential and decided to separately cultivate and propagate the coffee trees from this area.

This is what is now known to coffee enthusiasts as Geisha coffee.

Hacienda Esmeralda Special Selection Geisha is what we commonly know as Red Label. Selected from Geisha beans grown at altitudes of 1600-1800 meters, with cupping scores above 90 points, produced in the Jaramillo and Cañas Verdes regions.

Only those Geisha batches that participate in Hacienda La Esmeralda's own independent auction, taken from designated plots, qualify as auction Red Label.

However, there are also non-auction Red Labels available on the market today. These are actually Geisha beans selected from the same plots that were not submitted for auction, then circulated in the market. The variety and quality are consistent, only showing differences in pricing. This grade of Geisha uses natural or washed processing methods, featuring special, bright floral and citrus aromatics.

The biggest difference between the three labels is the altitude. As FrontStreet Coffee mentioned in previous articles, coffee beans grown at higher altitudes generally exhibit better flavor profiles. Therefore, the quality of Red and Green Labels is superior to Blue Label.

However, unlike Red Label Geisha, Green Label Geisha beans are mixed-harvest, while Red Label Geisha beans are from specified plots and participate in auctions, resulting in significant price differences.

However, FrontStreet Coffee believes that the flavor differences between Red Label and Green Label Geisha are not significant, making Green Label much more cost-effective.

Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee suggests that coffee enthusiasts who love Geisha coffee but have limited budgets might want to try Green Label Geisha.

FrontStreet Coffee has learned that Geisha coffee has an interesting characteristic: it exhibits better flavor profiles when grown in extremely harsh environments. This means Geisha coffee is particularly difficult to harvest and has very low yields.

Not every estate can produce delicious Geisha coffee; it requires sufficient conditions and equipment to produce Geisha coffee with excellent flavor profiles. This is why Hacienda La Esmeralda's Geisha coffee beans stand apart from the rest.

Important Notice :

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