How to Brew Anaerobic Natural Process Coffee? What's the Coffee from Panama's 90+ Gesha Estate Like? Why is Ninety Plus' Gesha So Famous?

Many people who visit FrontStreet Coffee's store want to try something "special," whether that means a coffee with an unusual processing method or a singular flavor profile. In that case, FrontStreet Coffee recommends the 90+ Eleta.

Eleta is a Geisha variety from the 90+ estate. The 90+ estate was the first in the industry to apply special processing methods to Geisha coffee, which is why references to it appear so often in recent writing on coffee development. This Eleta is no exception, having undergone anaerobic natural processing using 90+'s special techniques.

Brewing Challenges

Prolonged anaerobic fermentation allows the organic substances inside the beans to convert thoroughly, giving the coffee a highly complex flavor profile. Besides the intense wine aroma from fermentation, this coffee also shows high-sweetness fruit flavors such as longan, sweet orange and pineapple. Because it is so special, many people find it difficult to brew properly after buying it. Despite its rich aroma, the cup often tastes either too bitter or unpleasantly sour, creating extreme and uncomfortable flavors. So today FrontStreet Coffee will share how to brew this Eleta to bring out its fragrant, sweet side.

Many people fail to brew this Geisha well because they overlook the fact that it has undergone heavy fermentation processing, then treat it with conventional Geisha brewing methods. Typically, conventionally processed Geisha is lightly roasted and dense, so it calls for a finer grind and a higher water temperature. Anaerobically processed beans have the opposite characteristics: lower density, faster flow and easy extraction. Use the same grind for them and it is too coarse, so the fast flow causes under-extraction and a sharp, sour acidity. Control the flow instead, and the Geisha over-extracts because of its high extraction efficiency, producing bitterness, astringency and off-flavors.

In short, many people brew this coffee with extreme results because the parameters and the brewing method do not match the bean. Adjust those, and brewing this 90+ Geisha becomes effortless.

Brewing Recommendations

First, adjust the grind size. A finer grind effectively slows the flow rate. Second, lower the water temperature, because we have increased the contact time between water and grounds, so we need to reduce the temperature to bring extraction efficiency down a little and prevent over-extraction.

The pour also has points worth noting. FrontStreet Coffee will first list the extraction parameters, which will make sense as we brew. They are: 15g coffee dose, a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, 90°C water, a grind setting of 9.5 on Ek43 with an 80% pass-through rate on a #20 sieve, a fine sugar texture, a three-stage pour and a V60 dripper.

Practical Brewing Steps

Absent special circumstances like aged beans, almost all coffee behaves consistently during the bloom. Use twice the weight of the coffee in water for a 30-second bloom, letting the coffee degas thoroughly and laying the foundation for a complete extraction.

The bloom does not have to be exactly 30 seconds, of course; decide based on whether the bloom dome stays stable. Once the bloom ends, begin the second pour. Even with a finer grind the flow will still be fairly fast, so reduce the pour rate and slowly inject 120ml of hot water in a small stream with large circular motions.

After the water has fully permeated, use the same small stream to pour the remaining 75ml of hot water in small circles. Then wait for the dripping to finish, and the extraction is complete.

Tasting Notes

Total extraction time was 1 minute and 58 seconds. The wet aroma is distinctly wine-like. Tasted hot, it shows the sweet-and-sour flavors of grape, dried fruit and apricot. As it cools, this Geisha begins to reveal high-sweetness flavors of longan, pineapple and orange. Overall it has a very full, juice-like body with an extremely rich flavor presentation. Delicious.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If what drew you to this cup was the combination of Geisha and an unusual process, FrontStreet's Grana Estate Geisha is a good next step. The Grana Estate in Ethiopia grows only one variety, and the lot comes from the Grana processing station at the border of the Kochore and Grana Abaya areas, established in 2014 and managed by Mr. Israel Degefa, with some 700 hectares of coffee in the surrounding area, much of it uncultivated, with fertile soil and shade trees throughout. Cherries are picked by hand and dried on raised beds for 14 to 20 days depending on the weather. A light-to-medium roast suits it best, and the cup shows bright citrus acidity, elegant ginger lily aroma, the full sweetness of ripe fruit, a delicate and silky body, and the refined finish that marks the variety.

To see how much difference origin makes, FrontStreet's Boquete Geisha comes from the same Panamanian region as Hacienda La Esmeralda. Washed and medium roasted, it delivers the classic orange-blossom honey note, with jasmine, lemon acidity, bergamot and honey, an oolong tea body and a clean, refreshing finish, and it is the most affordable way to taste what Panamanian Geisha is about.

For an everyday pour-over that still carries a Geisha-style bouquet, FrontStreet's Strawberry Candy blends Costa Rican honey-processed coffee with Panamanian Geisha, so the cup holds both delicate florals and sweet fruit. It works for pour-over, moka pot and espresso machine, and it makes a bright, refreshing cold brew as well: 30g ground to fine sugar, about 9 on an EK43s or 24 on a C40, steeped in 360g of room-temperature water at 1:12, covered and refrigerated for 8 hours, then filtered and rested another 3 hours, giving grape juice, rose, sweet orange and fruit wine notes.