When it comes to the most popular coffee varieties, many people think of Geisha, especially Geisha grown in Panama. That is why FrontStreet Coffee's bean list includes several Geisha coffees from Panama, and one of them easily draws attention: 90+ Eleta. Many people ask, is 90+ an estate? Where in Panama is it? What are the characteristics of the Geisha it produces?

In fact, 90+ is short for Ninety Plus, an American company founded by Joseph Brodsky in 2006.

In 2004, Hacienda La Esmeralda entered the Panama BOP competition with Geisha. Thanks to its floral and citrus flavor profile, the Geisha variety stood out and won the championship. The Geisha variety rose to fame as a result, drawing the interest and attention of many people, including Joseph Brodsky, founder of the 90+ company.

So Joseph began traveling to Panama, hoping to find coffee bean varieties that could rival Geisha, but unfortunately he ended up failing. Yet Joseph did not give up, and instead chose to go to Ethiopia, because that is where more undiscovered coffee varieties are found.

In 2006, Joseph began living in Ethiopia and took part in local coffee growing full time, and started working on and researching coffee processing. At first, due to insufficient funds, he did not have his own plantation, and could only buy high-quality coffee cherries picked by others, then process them meticulously for export.Under such circumstances, the coffee Joseph produced began to attract attention in the coffee industry with its extremely rich fruit flavors and high quality, including from some international-level competition competitors, and the 90+ company gradually made a name for itself.

However, Joseph had never been able to find a quality that could rival Geisha, so he decided to grow Geisha and use his unique processing methods to create a top-level Geisha. Therefore, in 2009 Joseph returned to Panama and purchased the roughly 200-hectare Ninety Plus Gesha Estate in Volcan-Candela, where he began growing coffee, mainly the coffee varieties he had brought back from Ethiopia as well as Panama Geisha varieties, and in 2014 it officially began producing coffee beans. Later, in 2019, the 90+ company also acquired a plot on the western side of the Barú volcano and founded Ninety Plus Barú Estates, though this estate has not yet officially produced coffee beans.

Volcan-Candela, where the 90+ Gesha estate is located, is one of Panama's main coffee-producing regions. Although it is less famous than Boquete, it is equally rich in natural resources. The Volcan region lies on the eastern side of the Baru volcano, with coffee planted at altitudes between 1200-1800 m. It also has fertile volcanic soil and plenty of sunlight. However, because the mountains to the north of the area form a barrier, moisture from the Atlantic is hard to reach, so the region's climate is relatively dry.

The 90+ company established the Profile Processing system to oversee the entire process of variety, cultivation, harvesting and processing methods, and to tailor the processing method for each individual coffee bean. It also founded the Ninety plus Sensory Room (NP Sensory Lab) and the Solar Kiln lab for research into experiments with various processing methods different from ordinary green coffee processing.

At present, Qianjie carries two 90+ series coffees produced by this estate: Juliette Gesha and Eleta Gesha. Both also belong to 90+ processing methods, but the 90+ company has not disclosed the specific processing method; however, based on cupping, it is guessed to be an anaerobic natural type of processing.

EletaGesha, after brewing, offers aromas of longan and candied fruit, with bergamot, sweet orange, grape and pineapple flavors on the palate, a crisp sweetness like apple juice, a rich and varied mouthfeel, and an endless finish.

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