Panama enjoys a very high profile in the global coffee market. Although its production is not large, it is famous for producing the Geisha variety, which has refined floral, jasmine and peach-like aromas. In addition, Geisha has become one of the most popular coffee varieties in the world, and at many coffee auctions Geisha has fetched record-breaking bids.

Therefore, many people may think that Panama is the birthplace of the Geisha variety. Although it was Panama's coffee producers who discovered the potential of the Geisha variety, Panama is only where the variety rose to fame; the true birthplace of Geisha is Ethiopia, where it is a local variety.

At first, in 1930, British colonial explorers came to the Gesha area near the Kaffa forest in southwestern Ethiopia and discovered the Geisha variety, which was therefore recorded as Geisha (because of the language barrier, Gesha was mistakenly recorded as Geisha).

The variety was later sent to research stations in Kenya and Tanzania, and then in 1953 brought to CATIE (Centro Agronomico Tropical de Investigacion y Ensenanza) in Costa Rica, where it was recorded as Geisha T2722 (the T refers to the center's location in the city of Turrialba, Costa Rica).

At this time, the variety was found to have resistance to coffee leaf rust, so in the 1970s it was distributed to Panama for planting. However, the Geisha variety was too delicate and was not favored by local farmers, so it was not widely planted. Still, because the variety's plants are relatively tall, some estates kept planting it as a windbreak.

It was not until Hacienda La Esmeralda (Panama Geisha Hacienda La Esmeralda) conducted a cupping after one harvest and discovered that one of its coffee beans had a very distinctive citrus fruit profile and floral aroma that it began to separate it out and process it on its own.

Then, in 2004, Hacienda La Esmeralda entered the Geisha variety in the annual Best of Panama (BOP) competition, where Geisha received extremely high praise, winning the championship with a very high score and making its name overnight. Afterwards, this champion Geisha coffee lot fetched a price of 21 US dollars per pound at the subsequent auction, a price that broke the record at the time.

Afterwards, the Geisha variety became increasingly famous, and more and more coffee estates in Panama began to introduce Geisha for cultivation, thereby raising their own profiles, such as Elida Estate and Aurora Estate. In addition, other coffee-growing countries also introduced the Geisha variety, though due to differences in geography, climate and processing, the Geisha variety grown in different countries and different estates has different flavors.

In addition, the first people in Asia to come into contact with coffee were the Japanese. When the Japanese encountered the Geisha variety, the pronunciation of Gesha was the same as that of "geisha" in Japanese, so the Geisha coffee bean was called "geisha"; later, when Taiwan, China came into contact with the Geisha variety through Japan, it also continued to use the name "geisha", though it was only later that domestic green bean traders named Gesha "Geisha".

Currently at FrontStreet Coffee, there are multiple Geisha coffee beans from Panama, including the Green Label Geisha and Red Label Geisha produced by Hacienda La Esmeralda, as well as Geisha coffee beans from the Boquete region of Panama, which is in the same producing area as Hacienda La Esmeralda. These Boquete Geisha coffee beans are washed processed and medium roasted; after brewing you will smell jasmine, and on the palate there is lemon-like acidity, bergamot and honey flavors, with a green tea-like mouthfeel and a refreshing taste.

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