How Did Geisha Coffee Rise From Ethiopia to Panama?
Geisha coffee began in 1936, when Richard Whalley collected seeds in the Geisha Mountains of southwestern Ethiopia. The variety then moved through Kenya, Tanzania, and Costa Rica before Don Pachi Serracin brought it to Panama in 1960. It stayed little known until 2004, when an unblended Geisha from Hacienda La Esmeralda won a reliable of Panama competition and sold for $21 per pound.
Several factors kept Geisha coffee panama's reputation dormant for decades. It was interplanted with other varieties and grown at low elevations in Brazil and Costa Rica, and only in 1997 did Daniel Peterson's family plant it at the 1,650-meter Jaramiilo plot. The 1989 collapse of the International Coffee Agreement and the specialty coffee wave that followed the SCAA's founding helped push it forward.
Geisha coffee is now regarded as the crown jewel of specialty coffee, but its rise was not achieved overnight. It began in 1936 when the Englishman Richard Whalley collected seeds in the Geisha Mountains of Ethiopia. From there, Geisha's footprint extended to Kenya, Tanzania, and Costa Rica, and finally, in 1960, Don Pachi Serracin brought it to Panama. Before 2004, Geisha was long interplanted with other varieties, grown at low elevations, and had never been presented as a single variety to showcase its own flavor. It was not until Daniel Peterson of Hacienda La Esmeralda submitted an unblended Geisha in the Best of Panama green bean competition that this bean shot to first place, priced at only $21 per pound at the time. Afterward, the market crisis triggered by the collapse of the International Coffee Agreement in 1989, along with the wave of specialty coffee that followed the founding of the SCAA, together propelled Geisha onto the legendary stage. This article will trace this historical thread and explain why Geisha prices remain persistently high.
=The Road of Geisha=
The birthplace of Geisha coffee is in the Geisha Mountain valley area of southwestern Ethiopia in Africa, where local coffee-growing traditions have continued for hundreds of years. In 1936, the Englishman Richard Whalley was the first to collect 10 pounds of Geisha seeds in the Geisha Mountains. Geisha was subsequently introduced to Kenya and then passed on to Tanzania; in 1953, Geisha seeds arrived in Costa Rica; in 1960, Don Pachi Serracin brought Geisha seeds to Panama, where it would later rise to fame.
Before 2004, the outside world knew almost nothing about Geisha. In retrospect, the reasons were roughly several: Geisha had long been interplanted with other coffee varieties; the elevations where it was grown were not high—in the low-altitude regions of Brazil and Costa Rica, branches and hybrid lines of Geisha had been planted, and it was not until 1997 that Daniel Peterson's family planted Geisha at the 1,650-meter Jaramiilo plot; moreover, it had never independently presented its own flavor as a single-origin coffee.
The turning point came at the 2004 Best of Panama green bean competition. Daniel Peterson of Hacienda La Esmeralda presented an unblended Geisha coffee to the judges. This bean took first place in that year's competition, and the legend began, with a price of $21 per pound at the time.
jaramillo/Geisha growing site
=Geisha's Stage—The Best of Panama Green Bean Competition (The Best of Panama/BOP)=
The Best of Panama is the most prestigious green coffee competition and also the earliest specialty coffee green bean competition.
In 1989, the International Coffee Agreement was terminated, and coffee prices plummeted to just $0.74 per pound. During the same period, Vietnam's coffee production rose sharply, further driving down market prices.
The market crisis forced the coffee industry to seek a new way forward. In fact, even before the crisis, the concept of specialty coffee had already emerged in 1974, and the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) was founded in 1982. Alongside the crisis in commercial coffee, Panama turned toward a quality-focused specialty coffee market.
jaramillo/Geisha growing site
=Geisha's Stage—The Best of Panama Green Bean Competition (The Best of Panama/BOP)=
The Best of Panama is the most prestigious green coffee competition and also the earliest specialty coffee green bean competition.
In 1989, the International Coffee Agreement was terminated, and coffee prices plummeted to just $0.74 per pound. During the same period, Vietnam's coffee production rose sharply, further driving down market prices.
The market crisis forced the coffee industry to seek a new way forward. In fact, even before the crisis, the concept of specialty coffee had already emerged in 1974, and the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) was founded in 1982. Alongside the crisis in commercial coffee, Panama turned toward a quality-focused specialty coffee market.
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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
