What is Flower Demon Coffee? Flavor and Taste Comparison Between Volcanic Rock Las Rocas Geisha Coffee Beans and Flower Demon Coffee

A few days ago, several readers asked us about "Flower Demon Coffee." FrontStreet Coffee was briefly stumped too — until it clicked: the "Flower Demon" beans circulating online are actually the second-place winner of this year's Ethiopia Cup of Excellence. Let FrontStreet Coffee walk you through it!

What Is the Cup of Excellence?

The Cup of Excellence, or CoE for short, is the world's most influential competition for fine green coffee. First held in Brazil in 1999 by the Alliance for Coffee Excellence (ACE), it has grown into the most renowned and authoritative specialty green-bean contest on the planet, carrying the highest credibility in the judging of specialty coffees.

The "Flower Demon" Coffee Beans

Ethiopia's second Cup of Excellence, held in 2021, turned out to be a particularly interesting edition. Most of the selected lots came from Sidamo — a region that genuinely deserves to be called the heartland of Ethiopian specialty coffee. The second-place lot this year comes from Arbegona, in Sidamo, and took the silver medal on the strength of its outstanding 74110 variety.

The beans are natural-processed, and cupping reveals strawberry jam, peach, citrus, and jasmine — altogether like a flower fairy in a cup. The nickname "Flower Demon" took hold in China, and the naming actually follows a certain logic. The 2017 TOH natural-process champion was dubbed "Flower Queen," and the 2020 TOH washed-process champion became "Flower Inflorescence," so the arrival of a "Flower Demon" hardly comes as a shock. Every famous bean needs a marketing story, after all — and we suspect the next celebrated Ethiopian lot will follow the same "Flower X" formula.

The Volcanic Rock Las Rocas Geisha Coffee Beans

Meanwhile, a Geisha called "Las Rocas" has recently surfaced on the green-bean market. The packaging says only "Panama Boquete Geisha coffee" along with a website, www.las.rocas.com — but when FrontStreet Coffee checked, the site held no information at all, which felt rather rushed. So what exactly is this bean?

Panama's green-coffee market is remarkably transparent: with a little digging, almost any Geisha can be traced back to its estate. And has anyone noticed that the famous Hacienda La Esmeralda quietly dropped its Blue Label Geisha series this year, keeping only the Red Label and Green Label?

Remember, back in 2020 Hacienda La Esmeralda launched a natural-processed Blue Label Geisha — notable because the estate's natural-process Geisha had previously been reserved for its pricier Red and Green Labels. Yet within barely a year of introducing that natural Blue Label, the entire Blue Label series was canceled. A quick turnaround indeed!

After some thorough detective work, FrontStreet Coffee established that the Volcanic Rock Las Rocas Geisha in fact comes from Hacienda La Esmeralda. Combined with the news of the Blue Label's cancellation this year, it is clear that Las Rocas is the Blue Label Geisha in disguise. The Blue Label has not vanished — it has simply changed its coat and returned to the consumer market. This lot is washed-processed, with Hacienda La Esmeralda still handling the processing, and it clearly maintains the same excellent quality the Blue Label was known for. Anyone who has been craving Blue Label Geisha should be delighted.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Geisha styles to compare side by side

Once you start exploring Geisha, it helps to know the family tree. Panama made the variety famous, but Ethiopia is where it was born: the Geisha Village estate grows Gori Gesha, Gesha 1931, and Illubabor Forest, with the Gold Label (Gesha 1931, just 10% of production) offering intricate, competition-grade cups and the Red Label (Gori Gesha, 15% of production) scoring 88+ on the SCA scale as a fully traceable single-terroir series. For a gentler entry point, FrontStreet Coffee recommends the Granana Gesha from Yirgacheffe — a medium-light roast with bright citrus acidity, elegant ginger-flower aroma, guava-like sweetness, and a refined finish.

Brewing a Geisha well

Geisha's floral-fruit character and dense bean call for a coarse grind — 78% pass rate through the China No. 20 sieve (about fine caster sugar) — and water at 91°C. FrontStreet Coffee's pour-over recipe: 15g of coffee in a small Hario V60 at 1:16, blooming with 30g of water for 30 seconds, then pouring in slow circles to 125g, topping up to 225g as the bed drains halfway, and finishing around 2:10–2:20. The same Geisha shines as an SOE espresso: 20g in, a 1:2 ratio, 25 seconds, yielding 40g of apricot-caramel-nut shots, or split as an Americano (1:5, 200g of water) with orange, nut, and blueberry notes.

A Florals-and-fruit alternative

If you love the Flower Demon's jasmine-and-peach profile but want something easier on the wallet, FrontStreet Coffee's Strawberry Candy — a blend of honey-processed Costa Rican coffee and Panama Geisha — delivers delicate florals with sweet fruit, and works for pour-over, moka pot, espresso machine, or an 8-hour cold brew that tastes of grape juice, rose, sweet orange, and fruity wine.