Category: Green Beans > Central America

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Panama Jaramillo Geisha Blue

Sweet Maria's Coffee

Sweet Maria's was one of 7 companies that shared the winning lot of coffee in the 2004 Panama Coffee Competition. The coffee sold at a record price for any auction, and there was good reason why based on the unique cup character. The coffee is grown on a farm called Jaramillo operated by the well-known Finca Esmeralda and the Peterson family. The coffee has an extraordinary character, quite out of place for a Panama, that comes from a combination of unique environment, high altitude and a little-known Coffea Arabica cultivar called Geisha. By appearance and cup character , I suspect Geisha has an Ethiopian lineage - there are extraordinary floral and herbal qualities in the cup that are reminicent of Yirgacheffe. After the record auction price, there was talk about how to offer this coffee in the future, and a groupe of companies decided to split the crop in 2005, paying not the outstanding auction price but something that still is about 8x the norm for Panamas! As it turns out, Jaramillo Geisha cultivar won the 2005 competition too. What we offer here is not from the auction, this is our portion of the regular Geisha crop... well, if the term regular can be used here at all. The cup character of this coffee is not only unique among Panamas, it is unique among all Central American coffees, with floral aromatics, a fresh citrus flower brightness, light body, herbal and honeyed cup. It's a very buoyant coffee, lively and not overbearing. You will notice a very unusual long seed shape, much like ""longberry Harar"" but this is a fully wet-processed coffee. You don't want to roast this too light - it is quite bright and easily turns too sourish with a City roast. I prefer City+ and darker. The best cup I had was a melange - a blend of two roasts. I did a Full City+ with a few snaps of 2nd crack, and a City+ roast. Rested a couple days, this cup is awesome and has better body and more depth. Aromas are more lively after a shorter 12-24 hour rest though. This is quite a pricey coffee due to the very limited amount available. When you consider we sold the auction lot of Geisha last year for $24.80 per lb, it's much more reasonable this time though!

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For more information on this product, visit Sweet Maria's Coffee's website.