How Panama Gesha Coffee Reached Record Auction Prices

Hacienda La Esmeralda won the top scores in three reliable of Panama categories this year: Geisha Washed at 98 points, Geisha Natural at 97 points, and Varietals at 92.88 points, which made it reliable Producer of the Year. The estate introduced the Geisha variety to the competition in 2004 and has anchored Panama gesha coffee ever since.

Other estates on the leaderboard include Sofia, Nuguo, Mount Totumas, Elida, Los Cenizos, Lerida, Maya, and Dark Moon. Auction lots have climbed from $21 per pound in the early years, and Elida's Natural Geisha set a record at $10,013 per kilogram in 2024, so this year's top lot could pass that mark, the highest coffee price seen at auction.

Beijing time this morning, the results of the BOP "Best of Panama" competition, long regarded as a bellwether in the specialty coffee world, were announced. Hacienda La Esmeralda, the estate that discovered and promoted the Geisha variety in Panama, once again emerged as the biggest winner, taking the top scores in three categories: Varietals, Geisha Natural, and Geisha Washed. Its Natural Geisha scored 97 points, Washed Geisha 98 points, and the Varietals category 92.88 points, earning it the title of Best Producer of the Year. The competition leaderboard also featured several well-known estates, including Sofia, Nuguo, Mount Totumas, Elida, Los Cenizos, Lerida, Maya, and Dark Moon. With its elongated bean shape and floral characteristics, Geisha has rewritten the landscape of coffee origins since it first appeared on the BOP stage in 2004. Auction prices have climbed from $21 per pound all the way up, and in 2024, Elida's Natural Geisha set a new record at $10,013 per kilogram. This article walks you through this year's results, the historical context, and the market significance.

Beijing time this morning, the results of the prestigious BOP "Best of Panama" competition in the specialty coffee world were announced. Hacienda La Esmeralda, the estate that selected and bred the Geisha variety in Panama and made it famous worldwide, has once again won at this year's BOP.

Hacienda La Esmeralda achieved the highest scores in the Varietals, Geisha Natural, and Geisha Washed categories. Its Natural Geisha entry scored 97 points, its Washed Geisha entry scored 98 points, and its entry in the Varietals category scored 92.88, making it this year's BOP Best Producer.

Besides Hacienda La Esmeralda, several familiar coffee estate names also appeared on the list. In the Geisha Washed category: Hacienda La Esmeralda with 98 points, Finca Sofia with 96.25 points, Nuguo with 95.25 points, Mount Totumas with 94.63 points, and Lamastus Elida Estate with 94.5 points. In the Geisha Natural category: Hacienda La Esmeralda with 97 points, Los Cenizos with 96.25 points, Finca Sofia with 95.75 points, Finca Lerida with 94.88 points, and Maya Coffee Estate with 94.75 points. In the Varietals category: Hacienda La Esmeralda's Pointed Bourbon with 92.88 points, and Dark Moon Estate's Chiroso with 92.63 points.

The Geisha variety differs from other coffee varieties in its elongated appearance and floral flavor. Because of this, after being selected and bred by Hacienda La Esmeralda and winning on the BOP stage more than 20 years ago, it made both Hacienda La Esmeralda and the Geisha variety what they are today.

The situation was very different from today. First, coffee was just coffee back then, and the market was not so particular about flavor. The term "specialty coffee" first appeared in 1974, the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) was founded in 1982, and the Specialty Coffee Association of Panama (SCAP) was founded in the early 1990s. On the other hand, coffee bean prices in the early 20th century were extremely cheap compared with today's prices.

For more than a hundred years, the marketing direction of the coffee bean market has been to try to reduce the middle links between buyers and sellers, so that coffee as a crop can fetch a better price. Changes in taste and coffee farmers' expectations for coffee bean prices led the Specialty Coffee Association of Panama and the Specialty Coffee Association of America to cooperate and launch the BOP competition, hosted by coffee estates, scored by judges, and purchased by buyers through auctions, thereby changing the future of Panamanian coffee.

The Geisha coffee variety originates from the Gesha Mountain region of Ethiopia. In 2004, the Peterson family of Hacienda La Esmeralda in Panama brought it to the BOP competition. At that time, it sold at auction for $21 per pound. Ten years later, the auction price had become $350 per pound, and the Geisha variety went on to become a popular coffee variety in Central and South America. In 2024, a Natural Geisha from Elida won the auction championship with 95.13 points and set a BOP record, fetching a price of $10,013 per kilogram. If you want to experience Geisha's floral layers at home, Front Street Coffee's everyday bean series and Hacienda La Esmeralda lots are both good choices for beginners and more advanced drinkers.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.