Panama Geisha Floral Filter Coffee

A high-elevation Geisha from Boquete, Panama, brewed as a filter coffee. It tastes of jasmine, peach nectar and bergamot, with a silky, tea-like body and a black-tea finish, and a V60 lets those aromas stay clear.

Origin & Story

In 2004 a pound of coffee from a farm in western Panama sold at auction for $21, a record at the time. It does not sound like much today, but it changed how the world saw a coffee variety that Panama had been growing for decades without much notice.

The variety was Geisha. It reached Panama from Costa Rica in the 1960s, valued then for resisting coffee leaf rust, a fungus that attacks the leaves. It gave small harvests, and on low farms the cup was unremarkable, so most growers passed it by.

The turning point came at Hacienda La Esmeralda, on the slopes of Volcán Barú. The Peterson family had bought a high farm there, Jaramillo, and planted Geisha in sections above 1,650 meters, higher than it had been grown before. At that height the coffee ripened slowly, and the cup turned out to be something new: jasmine, bergamot and stone fruit in a light, tea-like body. The family entered it in the Best of Panama competition in 2004, and it won.

Prices have climbed a long way since. In 2019 a pound of Panama Geisha sold at the Best of Panama auction for $1,029, and lots have sold for even more since.

Geisha's aromas are delicate and easy to flatten, so a V60 with a paper filter is a good match. It keeps the cup light and clear. Use water at 93°C, a medium-fine grind, and 18 g of coffee to 300 g of water, finishing in about three minutes.

Reading the Flavor Profile

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