What Makes Geisha Coffee So Expensive?

Geisha coffee prices climbed steadily after Hacienda La Esmeralda won a reliable of Panama competition in 2004. Elida Estate's Green Tip Geisha pushed further in 2018, scoring 94.66 points and taking both the natural and washed category titles. Front Street Coffee now serves this anaerobic slow-natural Geisha, grown at 1,900 meters, as a 60-yuan pour-over on its everyday menu.

The variety's history reaches back to 1936, when 10 pounds of coffee seeds were collected near Gesha Mountain in Ethiopia. Those plants later served as windbreaks at Hacienda La Esmeralda before the Petersons expanded planting above 1,650 meters. Green Tip and Bronze Tip differ by leaf color, while ASD processing shapes the layered floral and fruity cup.

Geisha coffee's price has soared ever since Panama's Hacienda La Esmeralda won the BOP competition in 2004, and Elida Estate's Green Tip Geisha went even further in 2018, setting a new BOP record with 94.66 points and sweeping both the natural and washed category championships. This Green Tip Geisha, processed with anaerobic low-temperature slow natural method and grown at 1,900 meters above sea level, what does it actually taste like? Front Street Coffee has brought it into its everyday pour-over menu at 60 yuan per cup. This article will start with the history of Geisha's rise to fame, sort out the difference between Green Tip and Bronze Tip, explain what makes the ASD processing method unique, and include Front Street's full set of tested pour-over parameters to help you brew a cup of Elida Geisha with clearly layered floral and fruity notes.

When it comes to Geisha coffee, almost everyone in the coffee world knows the name. If you still have not heard of it, then what Front Street Coffee is about to discuss is worth reading carefully. After Hacienda La Esmeralda won the BOP (Best of Panama) in 2004 with Geisha, this once overlooked variety began rising in price year after year. Many people only see Geisha's overnight fame, but few understand the long, low-profile accumulation that came before. Next, Front Street Coffee will talk about that chapter in Geisha's story before it became famous.

According to the information available to Front Street Coffee, the story of Geisha can be traced back to 1936. At that time, Captain Richard Whaley, then serving as consul in the Bench Maji region, was tasked with collecting 10 pounds of coffee seeds from around the Gesha Mountain area. As for how the descendants of those seeds eventually made their way into Hacienda La Esmeralda, and how its unique flavor was discovered, this history has long lacked clear records. However, referring to Hacienda La Esmeralda's official archives, Front Street Coffee can infer that the reason Geisha was first planted back then was that it had some resistance to ojo de gallo (a coffee disease), but at that stage, Geisha trees served merely as windbreaks on the estate.

By the late 1990s, coffee production was receiving more and more attention. After the Petersons of Hacienda La Esmeralda bought the high-altitude Jaramillo farm, they noticed that although many coffee trees were affected by coffee leaf rust, Geisha was hardly seriously impacted, so they decided to expand Geisha planting across a larger area of the farm, mostly at elevations above 1,650 meters. Later, they were delighted to find that Geisha grown in high-altitude conditions performed exceptionally well in flavor.

Hacienda La Esmeralda can be called the birthplace of Geisha's rise. As its fame continued to spread, more and more estates joined the ranks of Geisha cultivation, and this variety did not disappoint expectations, repeatedly taking top honors in green bean competitions.

In 2018, the Lamastus family of Elida Estate set two Geisha-related records at the BOP competition. Elida Estate's Green Tip washed Geisha scored an extremely high 94.66 points, breaking the previous highest-score record of 94.15 set in 2016 by the same Green Tip washed Geisha; at the same time, they also took first place in both the Geisha natural and washed categories, becoming the first "double champion" in BOP history and earning that year's Best Producer of Panama title.

Also in the fruitful year of 2018, Elida Estate celebrated the 100th anniversary of its founding. And the coffee that won Best of Panama Geisha in both 2018 and 2019 was the same bean — Elida Estate Green Tip Geisha Natural ASD.

So what exactly is Green Tip Geisha? Front Street Coffee will answer that now. The currently known Geisha varieties are divided into Green Tip and Bronze Tip, with the names coming from the morphological characteristics of the coffee leaves. To distinguish the two, the more common explanation is this: Green Tip has more prominent floral notes and bright acidity; Bronze Tip has a smooth mouthfeel with a creamy quality, but slightly weaker floral notes and heavier fruitiness. Looking at recent trends, Green Tip coffees have frequently stolen the spotlight.

The competition Geisha from Elida Estate uses the ASD processing method, which is the abbreviation of Anaerobic Slow Dry, translated into Chinese as anaerobic low-temperature slow natural. This is a relatively new technique, and the processing flow is rather cumbersome, requiring producers to invest more time and effort. Specifically, the coffee cherries are first placed in a sealed container to ferment for a period, and after fermentation is complete, they are slowly dried. The drying cycle for ordinary natural coffee is usually 10 to 15 days, while slow drying extends this to more than 40 days.

As a "collector" of the world's fine coffees, Front Street Coffee naturally would not miss such an outstandingly flavored bean. Some years ago, Front Street Coffee acquired a batch of anaerobically fermented low-temperature slow natural Geisha from Elida Estate. This Geisha was grown at 1,900 meters above sea level, with crisp floral notes and fruitiness rushing forward — orange, guava, pomelo, apricot... various flavors weaving back and forth across the palate.

In order to preserve the original floral notes of Front Street Coffee's Elida Geisha, Front Street Coffee adopted a light roast, allowing the coffee to release more aromatic substances during its slow development.

Coffee beans of this caliber are priced noticeably higher in major cafés than ordinary coffee. You should know that green beans from such famous estates are often hard to obtain even at great expense, with limited production and outstanding quality, selling out quickly once listed. Taking Front Street Coffee as an example, a regular pour-over costs 30 yuan (which is actually not expensive either), while Elida Estate's Geisha is priced at 60 yuan per cup. Facing coffee with such refined flavor, the brewing method also differs from that for ordinary beans. Below are the parameters Front Street Coffee used to brew this coffee, for your reference:

Recommended brewing method: pour-over

Dripper: v60

Water temperature: 90-92℃

Coffee dose: 15 grams

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:16

Grind size: medium-fine grind (80% passing through China standard No. 20 sieve)

Brewing technique: staged extraction

First bloom with 30 grams of water for about 30 seconds, then pour in a small stream in circles around the center until reaching 125 grams, pause, and when the water level drops almost to the point of exposing the coffee bed, continue pouring until 225 grams, then stop. When the water level is about to expose the coffee bed, remove the dripper. The extraction time (starting from the bloom) is about 200 seconds; going 10 seconds over is also within the normal range.

Friends who often watch Front Street Coffee's brewing tutorials may have noticed that Front Street Coffee basically uses a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio when brewing other coffees, but only widens it to 1:16 when brewing Geisha. The reason is that Geisha usually grows at extremely high altitudes, and the low temperatures at high altitude slow the ripening period, allowing it to accumulate more aromatic substances. In addition, the fertile volcanic soil of Elida Estate also provides ample nutrients for this bean. For this reason, a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio is not suitable for Geisha. Front Street Coffee has done comparative experiments, and under 1:15, Geisha's flavor is too concentrated and instead fails to show specific flavor characteristics; while 1:16 better presents the most complete and clearest flavor layers.

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