El Geisha, la joya de la corona.

If you are here, it’s because, just like me, you’re wondering what Geisha coffee is and why everyone wants to be its friend. And well… the truth is that Geisha, or Gesha as some call it, is not simple nor cheap, but it is a jewel: the crown jewel of coffee.

To get more technical, Geisha is an Arabica variety that remained largely unknown until the 1930s, when it was discovered by the British. And you might ask: why only in the 1930s? What were the British looking for in Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee? For some context, in 1869 a plague appeared called Hemileia vastatrix, or what is commonly known as coffee leaf rust. This plague consumed and essentially devastated plantations across Asia, especially in Sri Lanka, which at that time was under British rule and used by the Empire for plantations and trade.

Sri Lanka, or Ceylon, was one of the main coffee exporters in the 19th century, reaching an annual export value that exceeded three million euros (source to be added). For the Empire and its colony, everything seemed to be going well until, in 1869, British botanist Harry Marshall Ward identified yellow spots on the coffee leaves of a plantation in Kandy (Ceylon). Months later, these spots spread across all plantations and were eventually named Hemileia vastatrix, or as cultivators nicknamed it: “Devastating Emily.” Over time, the news spread quickly to London through colonial reports. The impact was so significant that the Colonial Office in London and the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew began receiving samples, especially since no known pesticide could eradicate the fungus from the plants.

Coffee leaf rust

Photo from: http://www.cesavep.org/descargas/RDC/Ficha_Tecnica_Roya_del_cafeto.pdf

The rust was so aggressive and devastating that in about fifteen years it completely destroyed the coffee industry in Sri Lanka:

“In 1869, the first recorded epidemic of the coffee rust (caused by the fungus Hemileia vastatrix) broke out in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka)… Between 1869 and 1985, the disease spread from Ceylon… to virtually every coffee-growing region in the world.”

With this situation, combined with internal political problems, researchers and botanists sought to find a more resistant species. And so, in the 1930s, a botanical expedition traveled to the universal root of coffee: Ethiopia. This time, to collect seeds of more resistant varieties:

“In 1931, a British Consul named Richard Whally was asked by the Kenyan Ministry of Agriculture to pick specific coffee cherries from the western region of Ethiopia… He went with his team to a town called Gesha…”

Once the seeds had been selected, they were transported to places in Africa and the Americas for further experimentation:

“The Geisha variety… was identified in the 1930s, in the mountainous Gesha region of southwestern Ethiopia. In 1936, a British consul collected seeds that then were planted in Tanzania and subsequently in Costa Rica.”

The journey of the seed is quite fascinating: it was first sent to Tanzania, to the experimental station of Lyamungu, in the Kilimanjaro region (then under British administration). There, experimentation began against rust and another disease known as CBD (Coffee Berry Disease). At that time, no formal classification system existed, so no specific code was assigned. The first official registration came only in 1953, when the Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE) in Costa Rica received the Geisha seeds and registered them with the accession code T2722. The name corresponds to the “T” for Turrialba, where CATIE is located, and “2722” as the entry number in the catalog.

In the 1960s, the seed began to be distributed across several Latin American countries, including Panama. It is important to note that it was Panama that truly revealed Geisha as a specialty coffee. However, this recognition came as the result of a long process and a deeper understanding of coffee. At that time, Geisha was known for its low yield, fragility, and high susceptibility to diseases, so many farmers used it as filler coffee in their farms, mixing it with other more productive varieties.

Hacienda La Esmeralda, owned by the Peterson family and located in Boquete, Chiriquí, was one of the farms that received Geisha seeds in the 1960s. For many years this coffee remained forgotten, since its plants were fragile, unproductive, and highly disease-prone. However, by the late 1990s and early 2000s, producers began separating lots by altitude and variety in search of differentiation. That was when the Petersons discovered something surprising in some old Geisha plants: a distinct cup, with floral notes, bright acidity, and a clean flavor. They decided to present it at the Best of Panama 2004, and what happened next marked a turning point in coffee history. International judges were astonished by its aromas of jasmine, bergamot, honey, and black tea, accompanied by a clarity and elegance never seen before. The Geisha from Hacienda La Esmeralda was crowned the undisputed winner, reaching a record price of $21 per pound at auction, compared to the usual $2 for specialty coffee. Thus, the legendary Panamanian Geisha was born.

It is worth explaining what specialty coffees were before Geisha in 2004. The concept was defined in 1974 by Erna Knutsen, who set clear guidelines: coffees with identifiable origins —such as Ethiopia (Yirgacheffe, Sidamo), Kenya (SL28 and SL34), Colombia (Bourbon, Caturra), or Jamaica (Blue Mountain)—, differentiated by farm or microlot, and with distinctive attributes such as sweetness, balanced acidity, and a clean body. Specialty coffee emerged as a response to recognizing coffee as a premium product. Alongside this movement, Panama developed a project to highlight its production: the Best of Panama. This competition was created in the mid-1990s as a response to low international prices and the lack of recognition of Panamanian coffee. In 1996, a group of producers founded the Specialty Coffee Association of Panama (SCAP) and organized the competition with a clear goal: to showcase the quality of the best Panamanian coffees and place Panama on the map of specialty coffee.

Geisha is not just a coffee: it is proof of how a forgotten variety transformed the history of global coffee. Its revelation at the Best of Panama 2004 turned a regional competition into a global stage and paved the way for Panama to be consolidated on the specialty coffee map. Today, Geisha symbolizes excellence and exclusivity, but also the power of coffee to reinvent itself and transcend borders.



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