How Does This Panama Geisha Coffee Taste in the Cup?

Nuguo Estate sits in the high-altitude volcanic jungle of Panama's Volcán region, and its pressure anaerobic natural Geisha coffee won the BOP championship. Owners José Gallardo and his wife handle every step from picking to drying themselves, which gives the cup a full-bodied berry juice character with rich floral and fruity aromas.

The estate lies next to La Amistad National Park, at 1,700 to 1,900 meters, sometimes reaching 2,000 meters. After receiving the 2021-season green beans, Front Street Coffee used a medium-light roast and a three-pour V60 method to highlight the coffee's sweet-tart brightness and layered complexity. Brewing parameters and processing details follow.

Nuguo Estate is a micro Geisha farm hidden in a high-altitude volcanic jungle in Panama's Volcán region, and its pressure anaerobic fermented Geisha coffee once won the BOP championship. The owners, José and his wife, exercise strict control over every processing step, personally handling everything from picking to drying, which gives the coffee a full-bodied berry juice character and rich floral and fruity aromas. After Front Street Coffee received this batch of 2021-season green beans, it used a medium-light roast and a three-pour V60 brewing method to highlight the coffee's sweet-tart brightness and layered complexity. This article will introduce you to Nuguo Estate's natural environment, processing techniques, and Front Street's recommended brewing parameters.

In the last century, coffee lovers seeking a rich, full-bodied taste often favored beans like Blue Mountain and Mandheling. In recent years, however, Geisha coffee has captivated many seasoned connoisseurs. That said, the Geisha variety is now grown in many origins, and after tasting Geisha from all over, Front Street still believes that Panama-grown Geisha is the most memorable.

Geisha coffee drinks like freshly squeezed juice, with a very pronounced floral aroma. Panama Geisha When it comes to Panama Geisha, Hacienda La Esmeralda is naturally a name that cannot be avoided. Today, Front Street wants to talk about the 2021 BOP Natural Geisha category champion—Nuguo Estate.

Nuguo Estate is located in Alto Jurutungo in the Volcán region of Chiriquí Province, Panama (the name means "a distant and hard-to-reach place"). The estate is right next to La Amistad National Park, with an exceptionally favorable natural environment, and various birds inhabit the estate, which is why the Gallardo family named it Nuguo (meaning "bird" in Spanish).

-Nuguo Geisha The estate's natural environment

The owner family, the Gallardo Family, owns several estates in the Volcán area, including the well-known Jurutungo Estate. Nuguo Estate is one of the family's most prized micro Geisha estates; although its annual output is limited, its flavor is in no way compromised.

Nuguo Estate is tucked away in the high-altitude jungle of Baru Volcano, with an average elevation of 1,700 to 1,900 meters, reaching up to 2,000 meters at its highest point. The high altitude, combined with a climate of year-round cloud cover and scarce sunlight, causes the coffee cherries to grow slowly, which also increases the difficulty of cultivation and harvesting. But the volcanic soil is rich in nutrients, and the pristine forest provides excellent shade conditions, giving Nuguo Estate's coffee a rich, fragrant flavor. The ever-changing weather brought by the microclimate, abundant rainfall, and the temperature difference between day and night allow the cherries to slowly accumulate their essence in nature; Nuguo Estate can be said to have received nature's generous gifts.

The owner, José, has said that "he uses coffee to create many connections with the world." At his own processing plant, he and his wife work hard with a single-minded focus on making the best Panamanian specialty coffee; he also regularly holds cupping sessions at home, teaching specialty coffee knowledge and cultivating outstanding local Panamanian baristas, dedicated to advancing the development of Panama's coffee industry as a whole.

In 2015, when Mr. Wilford, the owner of Elida Estate, first cupped Nuguo Estate's beans, he was struck by their enchanting flavor and immediately suggested that José enter that year's BOP green bean competition. Encouraged by his senior, José submitted a BOP competition lot for the first time and won the championship in one go. In the three years that followed, Nuguo Estate's Geisha went on to achieve repeated success.

Nuguo Estate covers a total area of only 5 hectares, with less than one-third planted with coffee.

If Nuguo Estate's superior natural environment and unique climate give the beans themselves exceptional flavor, then the owner José is undoubtedly the driving force behind presenting those flavors at their best. As the third-generation successor of the Gallardo family, he also holds a doctorate in civil engineering and teaches at a local university.

As a producer from a family of generations-long coffee growers, José has inherited the previous generation's coffee sensibility of "heart to heart" transmission, while also possessing the innovative drive of this generation of estate owners. In pursuit of the ultimate "taste of place," after the coffee cherries at Nuguo Estate are harvested, every step—from sorting, washing, drying, hulling, to packaging—is completed personally by José and his wife. On the very day the coffee cherries are picked, work begins in his drying room of less than 6 square meters.

Panama · Nuguo Estate Pressure Anaerobic Fermentation Geisha Coffee Beans

Region: Panama, Volcán

Estate: Nuguo Estate

Altitude: 1700m-1900m

Variety: Geisha

Processing Method: Pressure Anaerobic Fermentation

Harvest Season: 2021

José is extremely strict about the various numerical requirements of the processing plant. For example: the drying room temperature is kept below 24 degrees Celsius year-round, and the dehumidifier is set to 40% humidity; in the early stage of drying, large industrial fans are used as an aid, with low temperature and high air circulation working together to ensure cleanliness and prevent over-fermentation; when the moisture content drops to about 25-30%, he switches to a low-temperature-only drying mode.

This coffee uses pressure anaerobic fermentation processing, a method Nuguo Estate began experimenting with in 2018. After two years of improvement and adjustment, it was officially launched in 2020.

After carefully selecting ripe coffee cherries, the estate owner puts them into vacuum-sealed bags for 4 to 9 days of anaerobic fermentation, during which carbon dioxide is also injected to make the vacuum bags inflate. After fermentation is complete, one portion of the coffee cherries is sent for constant-temperature drying for 4 to 8 weeks, while another portion undergoes sun-drying for as long as 21 days.

After Front Street's roaster received this batch of high-quality green beans meticulously crafted by estate owner José, they detected a sweet-tart floral and fruity aroma with a faint grassy note. To highlight the beans' sweet-tart brightness and floral-fruity fragrance, a medium-light roast was used.

When Front Street Coffee's baristas brew it, in order to better highlight the floral aroma and sweet-tart brightness, they use a finer grind and a water temperature of 93 degrees Celsius. To avoid the high-temperature water contacting the coffee grounds for too long and causing over-extraction and bitterness, Front Street recommends using a faster-flow dripper, such as the Hario V60.

Dripper: Hario V60

Water Temperature: 93 degrees Celsius

Dose: 15 grams

Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15

Grind Size: 80% passing a No. 20 sieve

For the pouring method, Front Street recommends a three-pour approach to give the coffee a richer layered complexity.

First pour 30 grams of hot water for a 30-second bloom, then pour the second pour in a slow, small stream in circles until 125 grams, wait until the water level in the dripper drops to just before exposing the bed and continue pouring, then pour the third pour until 225 grams and stop immediately. Once the water in the dripper has fully dripped through to the server, remove the dripper. Total extraction time is about 2 minutes.

This 2021-season Panama Nuguo Estate Pressure Anaerobic Fermentation Geisha coffee bean has a full-bodied berry juice character, with fruit flavors such as apple and nectarine, a honeyed sweetness in the finish, rich layers, and an overall clean and balanced profile.

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