Geisha Coffee Beans: Light Roast or Dark Roast? Flavor Description, Taste Characteristics, and Introduction
CUPPING 10-10-11
Equipment: Hario V60 pour-over dripper
Medium grind (slightly finer) — because the roast is relatively light, grinding finer is preferred to reduce acidity.
Water temperature: 91°C. The wet aroma is very obvious, and the faint sweetness left on the fingers from accidentally touching the coffee grounds. Just like SM's review — abundant floral notes, pleasant fruit acidity, relatively low body, thin.
GeishaCoffee is generally brewed mainly by pour-over,Geisha coffee beansThe reason it is world-famous is all because it has intense floral notes, citrus and berry flavors, a juicy mouthfeel, finer acidity as the temperature drops, and an overall rich, layered flavor profile. The entire coffee-growing region of Panama revolves around the Chiriquí volcanic area.GeishaCoffee beans can be said to be quite picky about their growing environment. They need to be grown at higher altitudes, with cloud cover or plenty of shade trees for shade, and in fertile soil, in order to harvest alluring floral notes, delicate fruit acidity, and a rich, layered taste and flavor.
The three roast levels of coffee beans
A cup of coffee contains multiple layers such as acidity, sweetness, bitterness, and saltiness. To achieve a good balance of acidity and bitterness in coffee, "roasting" plays an important role. As time passed, the third wave coffee revolution emerged, and in the new world of specialty coffee, the situation became very different. Dark beans are no longer considered the best, and light and medium roasts have gradually become mainstream.
Light roast characteristics:Light roast coffee is light brown, and the surface of the coffee beans has no oil. The beans are hard, the acidity is bright, the body is mellow, and the flavor is vivid.
Flavor: Coffee with fruity and floral notes is usually light roast. As long as the beans have been well grown, processed, and roasted, they can produce a variety of flavors, aromas, aftertastes, and more. For example: coffee beans from Ethiopia and Kenya are light roasted, so as to show the coffee's floral and fruity notes and juicy mouthfeel. Front Street has more than a dozen single-origin coffee beans from Ethiopia, because the flavor of each Ethiopian coffee region is different.
Medium roast characteristics:Medium roast coffee is brown, and a small amount of oil appears on the surface of the beans. These coffees have a little acidity and a red wine note, with a rounded mouthfeel.
Flavor:Roasting to this degree also retains many of the coffee's unique flavors. Heat begins to enter the interior of the beans, causing caramelization and bringing out sweetness. Therefore, the various indicators are relatively balanced, richer than light roast, and sweeter, but some acidic fresh aromas may disappear. For example: Costa Rica's Tarrazú, Mozart, etc.This is a degree that roasters relatively prefer, because for general drinkers it is more approachable, with balanced acidity and bitterness while still showing the coffee's natural flavor.
Dark roast characteristics:Dark roast coffee is a dark brown coffee, with rich oil on the surface, low acidity, a heavy red wine note, and a more bitter and fuller-bodied taste.Flavor: Coffee roasted to this level basically cannot be judged by origin, but this does not mean this kind of coffee is not good to drink. Some coffees are very suitable for dark roasting, and will have the characteristic flavors of chocolate, nuts, and caramel. For example: Mandheling coffee, Blue Mountain coffee, Brazil coffee, etc.
In 1931, Geisha was quietly exported from Geisha Mountain in southwestern Ethiopia (Geisha Mountain, which happens to sound the same as the Japanese word for geisha) to Kenya, wandered through Tanzania and Costa Rica, was transplanted to Panama in the 1960s, and then endured nearly half a century before suddenly making a splash, defeating the ever-victorious varieties such as Bourbon, Caturra, Catuai, and Typica, and sweeping the top prize in the Panama Best of Panama cupping competition in 2005, 2006, and 2007 all at once.
Geisha <pronounced the same as the Japanese word for geisha, hence it is also sometimes called geisha coffee> because the tree is taller than ordinary coffee trees, it was originally planted in a small area within that estate and used as a windbreak. The estate owner's son, in order to participate in the annual Best of Panama coffee competition, searched all the coffee varieties on the estate to test them, which gave Geisha a chance to take the stage; afterward it also participated in various worldwide coffee competitions and won a total of eleven championships.
Geisha coffeeThe best-tasting Geisha coffee is the Geisha from Panama's Hacienda La Esmeralda, and this is also because Panama's microclimate environment creates the special flavor of Panama Geisha. After Geisha became famous, estates everywhere began planting it. In addition to Panama Geisha coffee, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) has also sourced Geisha coffee from Colombia, Guatemala, and Costa Rica. Although Panama Geisha coffee is very good, the Geisha coffee from other producing regions also has very good flavors!
Front Street's approach to roasting Geisha coffee
Among the factors affecting the taste of a cup of coffee, green beans account for 60%, roasting accounts for 30%, and extraction accounts for 10%. Good roasting can bring out the personality of the green beans to the fullest while minimizing the appearance of defective flavors. Conversely, improper roasting can completely ruin good beans.
From the perspective of roast level: the darker the roast, the stronger the bitterness; the lighter the roast, the stronger the acidity. The choice of roast level depends on the characteristics of the coffee beans themselves. For coffee beans that are themselves more bitter and less acidic, a medium-light roast level is generally chosen.
Generally speaking, deeply roasted beans show more of their mouthfeel, and their usual flavor is relatively rich, such as smokiness, chocolate, and woody aroma, which will be the flavor expression of this type of bean, and it will be accompanied by a heavy mouthfeel. Lightly roasted beans show more of a light and refreshing flavor, and the flavor expression is very rich — floral notes, fruit acidity, and certain tea-like notes are all flavor expressions of this type of bean. Medium roast, meanwhile, is a relatively balanced expression, with both a refreshing flavor and a heavy mouthfeel.
Geisha coffee green beans:A very beautiful blue-green color, with a jade-like warm and smooth texture. It smells of fresh grass, peach, and berry, as well as the unique milky sweet aroma of oolong tea that most coffee beans do not have. It seems that things like aroma and taste really require association, but the faint tea note is something we can clearly perceive.
In order to highlight the characteristics and aroma of Geisha beans, the roast level is taken to the brink of second crack. The brink of second crack and the first pop of second crack are relatively commonly used roast levels, as mentioned earlier, because they can better bring out the characteristics of the beans themselves. Too light will produce off-flavors, while too dark will损耗 the floral aroma and fruit acidity. Front Street uses a light roast, because this roast level can better bring out the characteristics of the beans themselves, while too dark will损耗 the floral aroma and fruit acidity. Of course, this also needs to be adjusted according to the characteristics of the coffee beans and the roaster's understanding of the beans themselves.
Geisha coffee roasted beans:The roasted beans will look somewhat "wrinkled." Beans with these "sexy wrinkles" are all meant to highlight their original flavor and fruit acidity, but if the green beans themselves are not of high quality, some off-flavors will appear, such as腐朽 earthy notes, grassy notes, and a dry astringent taste. These flavors are what roasters should try their best to avoid. Well-roasted Geisha coffee has alluring lemon-citrus aromas and an extremely sweet honey-cream flavor.
From the perspective of roast level, the darker the roast, the stronger the bitterness; the lighter the roast, the stronger the acidity. Light roast coffee is light brown, and the surface of the coffee beans has no oil. The beans are hard, the acidity is bright, the body is mellow, and the flavor is vivid. Dark roast coffee is a dark brown coffee, with rich oil on the surface, low acidity, a heavy red wine note, and a more bitter and fuller-bodied taste.
Front Street's brewing parameters for Panama Geisha coffee beans
Front Street recommends using drip brewing, that is, pour-over coffee. If you want to drink a rich layered feel, you can use a V60 dripper to brew, while if you want a fuller coffee flavor, you can use a cake dripper to brew. Front Street's daily brewing mostly uses the V60 dripper, because the 60-degree angle design and the spiral rib design allow everyone to fully extract the essence of Geisha coffee by controlling the water flow and the number of pours, while the large outlet design avoids over-extraction of the coffee.
The V60 dripper body has guide ribs connecting the top and bottom and a large circular hole in the center, which speeds up the flow rate of water falling, while the spiral-shaped exhaust groove design lengthens the water flow path and increases the contact time between the coffee grounds and hot water. Each stream of water converges along the grooves toward the center point of the dripper, concentrating the pressure on the coffee grounds and producing a more richly layered extracted coffee.
Dripper: Hario V60, water temperature: 91°C, dose: 15g, coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15, grind level: 80% passing through a Chinese standard No. 20 sieve
[Panama Washed BoqueteGeisha coffee flavor characteristics]: It has clear acidity of citrus, lemon, and bergamot, with a creamy smooth mouthfeel when swallowed, and the finish is the sweetness of green tea and honey.
Front Street's coffee brewing suggestions:
Regarding coffee brewing, Front Street has always believed that the freshness of coffee beans has a great relationship with the flavor of the coffee. Therefore, the coffee beans shipped by Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) are all within 5 days of the roast date. Front Street's roasting philosophy is "freshly roasted good coffee," so that every customer who places an order receives the freshest coffee when they get it. The resting period for coffee is about 4-7 days, so when the customer receives it, it is exactly at its best flavor.
For friends who need ground coffee, Front Street kindly reminds you: if the coffee beans have been ground in advance, there is no need to rest them, because during transportation, the pressure generated by carbon dioxide inside the packaging can also make the coffee flavor rounder, so as soon as you receive the ground coffee, you can immediately brew a cup and drink it. However, ground coffee needs to be brewed promptly, because after ground coffee contacts the air it oxidizes relatively quickly, which means the coffee's flavor will dissipate relatively quickly and the coffee will not taste as good. Therefore, Front Street recommends buying whole beans and grinding fresh before brewing, so that you can better taste the flavor of the coffee.
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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
