It doesn’t matter which machine or method you choose to make the coffee that gives you life in the morning or the coffee that helps you relax in the moment: the most important thing is always the quality of the raw materials, and in this case coffee is a must. There is also water, but that is another topic. There are many special coffees and varieties that may seem exaggerated to us, but among them there is a coffee that is extremely exclusive in terms of both price and difficulty of growing.

This is Geisha, a coffee from the Arabica family that originally comes from Ethiopia and places a small country among the leading in terms of specialty coffee culture: Panama. This is his story.

Mad. One important thing before we continue: Geisha coffee isn’t unique to Panama. It is a coffee that requires certain conditions for optimum cultivation and can be found in Ethiopia, Colombia, Costa Rica and some other countries. But Panama has been specializing in a very specific type of coffee for years. This coffee is the special one. And it amazed those who first started using the term: North American buyers.

In 1963, Geisha was introduced to Panama and some ranchers began breeding it. The problem is that it is a coffee that needs very specific conditions to mature, but Panama is special there. Moreover, the first critics in those years thought that Geisha did not taste like coffee. The reason for this was that he was brought up low and they couldn’t find anything special about him. When low production and difficulties in cultivation were added to this, this variety became the choice of the brave.

“There is no coffee in Panama”. In a wonderful documentary produced by the Panama Tourism Authority, Ricardo Koyner of the Kotowa farm explains that Panama does not have a high-end coffee culture, so to speak. In fact, they had to change their production methods after the crisis 25 years ago. This was due to the boom in specialty coffee consumption in some countries. Koyner and other producers went to show off their products to American buyers, who were surprised when they asked where the coffee came from. “He told us Panama was a canal, there was no coffee there.”

It turned out to be a bit of coffee, and in fact Geisha rose to fame in 2004 when it won first place in the ‘Best of Panama’ competition, which has been held by the Panama Specialty Coffee Association since 1997. This competition is held to attract critics and expert buyers and get them to try our coffees, to be a window to the world. And what a window.

Emerald. There are many specialty coffee farms in Panama, but in 2004, Hacienda La Esmeralda owner Daniel Peterson, while testing several varieties of his crop, came across one that had been set aside. Peterson claims that he has never tasted anything like it in the world and actually thinks something is wrong because “it doesn’t taste like Panama.”

Growers tried Peterson’s Geisha in competition and were fascinated: It had all the qualities a coffee should have, and Peterson claimed it was just an isolated variety. Main value? An exotic taste not found in any other coffee in the region. With this success, Peterson entered the contest and the buyers were stunned.

It turned out that the remaining producers also noticed the presence of Geisha in their fields and began to support the cultivation of this variety. This is not something that will surprise you when you see how much you can pay, exceeding $800 per pound.

Perfect place for Geisha property

Don’t break the auction. With that victory in 2004, buyers flocked to the 2005 contest to find out what Geisha was all about. But not only did they go to Panama, there were also auctions on the Internet. Wilford Lamastus of the Elida estate says that in one of these auctions attended by the Geisha, a buyer started by bidding ten dollars. The technical manager in California closed the auction and Lamastus called to ask for clarification.

They said from California that they were closed due to a hacker intrusion, that normally auctions are a few cents and suddenly someone is giving $10, which is impossible. After a while, the responsible person called again and confirmed that it was not a hacker, but someone who wanted that coffee. It was here that Panamanian manufacturers realized that the future was heading in the direction of the Geisha. It wouldn’t be easy.

perfect conditions. “It is difficult to produce coffee here,” says Ratibor Hartmann, who produces various Ethiopian and Geisha coffees on his farm called Guarumo. As we can see, although this type of coffee is not unique to Panama, there are ideal conditions for its cultivation in the country. Hartmann himself says: “Today everything seems to have to be Geisha and not everything can be Geisha. We need to see which type of coffee is best suited for our environment and based on that we need to grow it on a scientific basis.” .

You know something, because they have many awards for Geisha coffees. But… why is this Panama Geisha variety so valuable? What is important here is the location, where the altitude between 1,200 and 2,000 meters is ideal for slower ripening and therefore more flavor of the fruit. Climate is also important; Temperatures between 18 and 21 degrees, volcanic soils and rainfall of approximately 2,000 mm per year are also important.

Returning to Guarumo, Hartmann explains that his farm is in a convergence zone: 67 kilometers from the Pacific and 42 kilometers from the Caribbean, which allows for rainfall in very different waters, although it is a mostly cold and dry area. Additionally, we have seen before that it is beneficial for this Geisha variety to be located in a late-maturing region due to climate and altitude conditions.

challenges. As if having ideal conditions to grow this coffee wasn’t enough, the resulting harvest isn’t stellar either. Its productivity is low, harvesting is done manually, and the entire post-harvest process focuses on preserving the citrus and floral flavors sought by the most demanding palates that demand this coffee. And we already know where this leads us.

$10.0005 per kilo. When Geisha coffee began to attract international attention, news broke that it was being sold at auctions for $800 a pound. This is a ridiculous price compared to the price reached in the last Best of Panama 2023 auction. Hold on tight to your chair because ‘Carmen Geisha – Carmen Estates By Panama Red Carmen Café Trading’ sold for $4,538.19 per half kilo. 10,005 per kilo and the batch received by New Zealand company Coffee Tech was 25 kilos, so the total amount paid was $250,125. The average price per kilo was $868.

A problem. Actually two. This variety has become one of the most popular coffees in barista competitions, but… at the café we trust? There is a basic problem here, and that is the price of coffee. It’s not just a specialty coffee, it’s THE specialty coffee right now, so the price of a cup keeps this type of coffee out of many places.

On the other hand, it is not a coffee that suits every taste. We are talking about preparation, not flavor notes. Ideal because it is gentle and has many nuances, it is a technique found in specialty coffee shops and not all of them: filtration. This is the most recommended, so espressoMixing it with milk or sugar (disrespect in the specialty coffee world) is not ideal.

But you know where all these Geisha coffee ingredients come from, and as a coffee lover I have to say I’ve never seen this in a specialty cafe before. Yes, I’ve seen Panamanian cafes, but I’ve never seen Geisha like this. If you bought it too and would like to share your experience in the comments, we would be happy to read you.

Pictures | Alejandro Alcolea, Frank_am_Main, ATP Panama

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