Premium Coffee Geisha Estate Introduction: Geisha Coffee Variety Flavor Characteristics

As the most popular coffee variety in the world, bar none, Geisha has flourished alongside the development of specialty coffee. Many renowned coffee producing regions or estates worldwide have begun planting Geisha varieties. Among them, Clifton Estate in Blue Mountain produced the Blue Mountain Geisha that shocked FrontStreet Coffee in 2020.

In the new year, FrontStreet Coffee's blessing and wish is, of course, to achieve Geisha freedom—to be able to freely enjoy specialty-grade Geisha coffee. One important reason we have this wish is, of course, that Geisha coffee is quite expensive.

Why is Geisha so expensive?

Many coffee enthusiasts jokingly refer to the "guì" (expensive) in Geisha coffee's name. Geisha coffee is often associated with high prices. Why is Geisha coffee so expensive?

First, one reason is the low yield of Geisha coffee. Compared to other varieties, the most significant characteristic of Geisha coffee is its extremely low yield. Its morphological features include long internodes on coffee tree branches, long distances between nodes, few flowers and few fruits on coffee trees. Additionally, Geisha coffee trees grow tall, making them difficult to harvest. Therefore, Geisha variety trees were initially used only as windbreaks for other varieties in Panama. As the saying goes, "scarcity makes things precious." The characteristic of low yield has put Geisha coffee in a seller's market, naturally driving up prices.

Besides the inherent characteristics of the Geisha variety that lead to low yields, growing high-quality Geisha coffee also demands extremely strict environmental requirements. The planting area temperature cannot be too low to avoid frost, the planting altitude must be sufficiently high, and the day-night temperature difference must be large enough. This allows Geisha coffee trees sufficient time to accumulate nutrients to showcase Geisha coffee's delicate floral and citrus flavor notes.

The delicate flavor of Geisha coffee, along with its characteristics of low yield and weak disease resistance, are all important reasons why Geisha coffee commands such high prices.

Today, FrontStreet Coffee will share several cost-effective Geisha coffees to help everyone gradually achieve "Geisha freedom" in the new year.

Option One: Blended Geisha

With the growing popularity of Geisha varieties, many producing regions have begun blending Geisha varieties to create more stable products and diverse flavor profiles. Compared to pure Geisha varieties, blended Geisha coffee offers high cost-effectiveness and flavors that rival those from major specialty producing regions.

When it comes to blended Geisha coffee beans, one must mention a coffee bean called "Mariposa" from the Boquete region of Panama. The most significant characteristic of this coffee bean is that it blends 70% Geisha coffee, with the remaining 30% being common Panamanian varieties Caturra and Catuai. Mariposa coffee delivers subtle floral notes from the Geisha variety, along with nutty notes and body contributed by the Caturra and Catuai varieties. Therefore, in previous years, FrontStreet Coffee would recommend Mariposa as an introductory choice for Geisha coffee.

Unlike Mariposa, the Geisha blend from Costa Rica's Mirasu Estate offers richer berry flavors. While Mariposa contains up to 70% Geisha, Mirasu Estate's Geisha blend contains only 50%, with the remaining 50% composed of varieties such as SL28 and ET47. Consequently, this coffee differs from Mariposa's nutty notes, instead offering more berries and citrus, while the raisin honey processing gives this Geisha blend coffee distinct candied fruit and fermented aromas.

Option Two: Entry-level Geisha Batches

To achieve "Geisha freedom," besides cost-effective blends, entry-level offerings from representative estates are also excellent choices. FrontStreet Coffee believes that Panamanian Geisha coffee is represented by La Esmeralda Estate, while Ethiopian Geisha is represented by Geisha Village Estate. Excluding batches that mix non-Geisha varieties, entry-level grade batches are the second major choice for everyone to begin trying Geisha coffee.

Panama's La Esmeralda Estate divides Geisha coffee into three grade batches: Red Label, Green Label, and Blue Label. Among these, Blue Label has the lowest altitude and uses mixed harvesting methods, making it the most cost-effective grade batch among the three. In 2020, La Esmeralda Estate's Blue Label Geisha added natural processing, so Blue Label Geisha is available in both washed and natural processing. The washed Blue Label Geisha features lemon, oolong tea, cane sugar, and subtle peach flavors. Meanwhile, the natural processed Blue Label Geisha offers passion fruit, lemon, honey, and fermented notes.

Ethiopia's Geisha Village Estate, on the other hand, categorizes their coffee into Auction, Gold Label, Red Label, Green Label, and Chaka batches. Among these, the Green Label batch offers the best value for Geisha coffee. The Chaka batches mix three varieties of coffee beans within the estate to achieve stable flavor profiles.

The official name of Green Label Geisha is SINGLE-TERROIR (single terroir/plot), and these coffee beans come from single farms within Geisha Village. Complete traceability information can be found for each batch number in the Single-Terroir series, including farm name, coffee variety, and processing date. It's worth noting that the Geisha from La Esmeralda Estate and the Geisha from Geisha Village Estate are actually different varieties. Geisha Village Estate's Geisha is a wild coffee variety discovered and named by the estate owners, who called it "Geisha 1931" and "Geori Geisha." Meanwhile, Geisha Village Estate's Geisha coffee is often known for its high sweetness and flavors of yellow stone fruits.

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