If you ask who the current "top star" of the specialty coffee world is, the answer must be the ever-popular Geisha.Ever since 2004, after Hacienda La Esmeralda successfully made Geisha a star, it has lived up to expectations by carrying out strict, refined cultivation and management of this delicious variety, and launched a dedicated grading system that pushed Geisha coffee beans firmly into the high-end segment.

If you are a Geisha enthusiast, you are surely familiar with terms such as "Red Label," "Green Label" and "Best of Show" under the Hacienda La Esmeralda grading system. But have you noticed that since some time last year, a new grade suddenly appeared on the market - "Black Label"? Compared with the other labeled Geishas Hacienda La Esmeralda has released in the past, it is not only expensive but also appears extremely rarely, and there is very little information about it online; even its product and pricing are especially mysterious. So what exactly is its background?

Before digging deep into this "Black Label," Best Coffee will first briefly review Hacienda La Esmeralda's several grades for you.

In the past, Hacienda La Esmeralda divided its Geisha beans from high to low into three grades: Red Label, Green Label and Blue Label. After the lowest-priced Blue Label was discontinued, in recent years this famous Panama estate's Geisha product line has maintained two main grades, namely Red Label and Green Label, plus the pricey auction lots.

As consumers, we mostly judge the grade by the color of the product label: when the label has a red background and is printed with a coffee flower, it is Esmeralda Special (what we call Red Label); if the coffee flower on the label has a green background, it indicates Private Collection (Green Label); the Esmeralda Auction, which can only be obtained through bidding, often uses a gray background.

For many years, Red Label has been the representative of Hacienda La Esmeralda's highest quality. Its definition is high-quality Geisha grown at an altitude of at least 1600 m, with a cupping score of no less than 91 points, and with detailed traceability information. Fans all know that every Esmeralda Red Label comes with a lot number used to track information such as its growing plot, altitude, latitude and longitude, tree age, harvest date, processing method and cupping flavor.

(Natural-process Red Label Geisha that Best Coffee obtained in 2022)

The more affordable Green Label, meanwhile, is a blended-harvest lot of Geisha, with an altitude requirement in the range of 1600-1800 m, and only the two traditional processing methods of natural and washed are offered. If you are interested in more details about different sub-estates and each small plot, you can look back at the articles shared previously; Best Coffee will not go through them one by one here.

As for the newly launched "Black Label," when Best Coffee checked Hacienda La Esmeralda's official website, we found that it has not yet been included in the fixed Geisha product series, and the estate owner has not promoted it much either, so there is little detailed background information about it online.

Through the small amount of information officially disclosed, and combined with shares from buyers, Best Coffee learned that this newest Geisha grade from Hacienda La Esmeralda is called "Esmeralda Nano," also known as "Nano Lot." It is a lot launched last year by the Peterson family on the occasion of celebrating the 20th anniversary of Geisha's debut, and there is currently no direct Chinese translation. Because the Peterson siblings designed the identifier color of this grade as a black coffee flower (or with a black background), Chinese-speaking buyers also call it "Black Label" following the previous naming style.

The so-called "Black Label" can be simply understood as a micro-lot selected on the basis of Red Label Geisha, and it must meet at least one of the following characteristics: either it comes from a small plot in a special location, or it is processed using an experimental processing method.

At present, most of the just-released Black Label Geisha comes from newer plots at higher altitudes with extremely small yields. For example, in the very popular sub-estate Canas Verdes, Geisha coffee from two small plots has been made into Black Label for sale: one is Nido, grown at 2050 m, and the other is Gigante, above 1900 m. In addition, two small plots at El Velo have also been included in Black Label lots, namely Pinto at an altitude of up to 2200 m and Valle at 2000 m.

In addition, each individual Black Label lot usually has a volume of only a few kilograms or a dozen kilograms, and it is said that some lots are even less than 1000 g, which can be said to push scarcity to the extreme, so the price is considerably higher than that of ordinary Red Label, and that is why Best Coffee has not yet had the chance to taste it. However, this also explains why it has remained "mysterious" on the market even though it debuted last year.

Finally, as for the launch of experimental processing lots, it should stem from Hacienda La Esmeralda's move in the previous year or two to invest in rebuilding temperature-controlled rooms and a microbiology laboratory. They hope to conduct various more detailed experiments, thereby contrasting with traditional processing methods and better understanding the impact of different environmental and biological factors on coffee quality.

For example, low-temperature fermentation with raised-bed drying and washing is more refined and elaborate in its steps than traditional washing. After harvesting, the ripe coffee cherries are first washed to remove the outer skin and pulp completely, then placed in a sealed steel tank inside a temperature-controlled cold room to ferment for 3 days. Once fermentation is complete, the parchment beans are taken out and spread flat on raised beds to dry for 18 days, allowing Geisha to develop a richer floral and fruity aroma.