The Geisha variety originated from Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee. It was discovered in 1931 in the Geisha forest in Ethiopia and sent to the Kenya Coffee Research Institute. It was subsequently introduced to Uganda, Tanzania, Costa Rica, and other countries, and was brought to Panama in 1970. At first, Geisha received little attention even when planted in Panama. Because it could not achieve mass production, it was even used as a windbreak. It was not until the owner of Hacienda La Esmeralda separated it out and entered it in the Best of Panama competition, winning the 2004 BOP championship, that Geisha attracted widespread attention.

Unlike the traditional "coffee taste," Geisha has a sweet and complex aroma that immediately brings to mind fresh flowers and various fruits, along with a tea-like mouthfeel, instantly overturning the impression that "coffee is only bitter." For example, when tasting Front Street Coffee's Hacienda La Esmeralda Green Label Geisha, you can smell pleasant aromas of coffee blossom, cream, yellow lemon, and grapefruit. As the temperature gradually drops, the sip reveals clear flavors of citrus, peach, honey, melon, and sugarcane sugar, mixed with the sweet aftertaste of green tea and a caramel finish.

This is all thanks to Panama's exceptional terroir, combined with Hacienda La Esmeralda's foresight in planting the tall, slender Geisha coffee trees at high altitudes, ultimately producing high-quality coffee with floral aromas, citrus acidity, and honeyed sweetness, successfully rising to the top of the Best of Panama coffee competition. Geisha became an overnight sensation.

As a currently highly sought-after variety, Geisha has many titles, such as "sky-high-priced coffee," "the Hermès of coffee," and "top star of the coffee world," especially Panama Geisha, which is also the most expensive option in many cafés. As a result, it is often jokingly called "expensive Geisha." So where exactly does its "expensiveness" lie?

Front Street Coffee Panama Boquete Geisha Coffee Beans

At first, the price of Panama Geisha coffee on the market was not considered too expensive, but as it won awards again and again, and more and more people marveled at its deliciousness, scarcity, high grade, and multiple other buffs continued to stack up. Later, with the support of various auction mechanisms, the selling price of this variety kept soaring, so today it has the title of "sky-high-priced coffee," and achieving Geisha freedom has become the wish of countless coffee lovers.

To satisfy everyone's "Geisha craving," some green bean merchants launched blends dominated by Geisha. For example, Front Street Coffee's Butterfly is composed of 70% Geisha and 30% Caturra and Catuai, allowing everyone to taste the citrus acidity, honeyed sweetness, and elegant floral aroma unique to Panama Geisha at an affordable price. It can be purchased at the Front Street Tmall flagship store.

Front Street Coffee Panama Butterfly Coffee Beans

This highly cost-effective Front Street Coffee Butterfly Geisha blend is deeply loved by lovers of floral coffee. Front Street Coffee took into consideration that Geisha varieties mostly belong to light roast, and lightly roasted beans have a lower coffee substance extraction rate than dark roast. Therefore, to ensure that the Geisha flavor can be fully extracted, a higher water temperature was used for brewing, and a finer grind size was also chosen.

Dripper: V60

Water temperature: 90-91°C

Grind size: 80% passing through a No. 20 standard sieve

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15

Dose: 15 grams

Pour the coffee grounds into the V60 dripper, wet the coffee bed with twice the amount of water as the coffee grounds to form a dome and bloom for 30 seconds. Then, with a small stream of water, pour in circles from the inside out until 125 g, then pause. When the coffee bed drops to half the height of the dripper, continue pouring the third stage with the same fine stream of water until 225 g. Once all the coffee liquid has finished filtering, remove the dripper. The time is about 2 minutes.

The ground Front Street Coffee Butterfly coffee has a captivating aroma of orange blossom and citrus. It tastes of berries, orange, honey, and green tea, with an almond finish. The mouthfeel is refreshing, with obvious sweetness.

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