Most people are likely familiar with Hacienda La Esmeralda. It’s considered the origin of Geisha coffee in the specialty coffee world—a legendary estate that has been winning awards for over 20 years. To use a fashion analogy, it holds a status similar to that of Chanel.
The Esmeralda family has a large and thriving estate, and they’ve developed a meticulous grading system for their coffee processing methods. That’s why you’ll often see a wide range of Esmeralda coffees in the market at different quality levels and price points. (We’ll dive deeper into this grading system shortly.)
At the start of each harvest season, they assign a number in front of the processing method to indicate the batch number. When certain batches stand out in flavor, the estate sets them aside and doesn’t sell them immediately. Instead, they hold these exceptional lots for the Best of Panama (BOP) auction. After BOP, they host their own internal auction called the Private Collection Auction (PCA). These two auctions often see the highest prices paid for Esmeralda’s top coffees.
Once both auctions are over, if there are any remaining lots from the auction selections, Esmeralda offers them first to buyers, competitors, and competition teams who visited the farm during the reserve period. Oasis acquired the Mario 3NB lot during this exclusive window.
After these special sales conclude, Esmeralda moves on to their regular seasonal offerings. While the top-tier lots are typically sold during the first three rounds, the next-best batches are released with a red label, and the lower-grade ones with a green label. This is the foundation of Esmeralda’s grading system.
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5FC
5 indicates that the coffee was harvested in the fifth batch of the season. Typically, the earliest harvests come from lower-elevation areas. By the third or fourth harvest, the cherries are picked from higher-altitude zones, where the maturation period is longer, allowing for greater accumulation of sweetness. Since this lot was harvested in the fifth batch, its sweetness is naturally very well developed.
F stands for Fermentation, meaning the coffee underwent a fermentation process.
C stands for Cold Room, indicating that the drying took place in a low-temperature, dark environment.
La Esmeralda
About La Esmeralda – The Home of Geisha
Hacienda La Esmeralda became a landmark name in the coffee world after the rediscovery of Geisha in 2004. With its intensely fragrant jasmine aroma and refined stone fruit notes, the unique essence of Geisha captivated the coffee industry and set the benchmark for how this varietal would be identified and appreciated in the years to come. As they advanced in production, fermentation, and drying techniques, the farm produced rare, record-breaking micro-lots. Hacienda La Esmeralda has continued to invest in and maintain the infrastructure necessary to consistently produce and preserve the exceptional qualities of this iconic coffee.
Origins
In 1940, a Swede named Hans Elliot first consolidated the land that would become Hacienda La Esmeralda. In 1967, Rudolph A. Peterson (1904–2003), a Swedish-American banker, purchased the estate as a retirement investment. At the time, the land was primarily used for cattle ranching, with only a small portion dedicated to coffee cultivation. In 1975, the Peterson family transitioned the farm to dairy production, which proved highly successful—dairy still occupies half the estate today. By the mid-1980s, the family began exploring diversification, and coffee, with its deep roots in the Boquete region, presented an ideal opportunity.
Coffee had been cultivated in and around Hacienda La Esmeralda since the 1890s. However, it wasn’t until the mid-1990s that North American buyers began to seriously focus on specialty coffee. In 1997, the Petersons purchased the land that would become the Jaramillo farm, located on the slopes of Volcán Barú. Its higher elevation was ideal for producing coffees of greater complexity, vibrancy, and delicacy. Yet, the fact that Geisha would one day be grown on this land was a fortunate accident.
The Journey of Geisha
The story of Geisha coffee dates back to 1936, when Abyssinia (modern-day Ethiopia) was still under British colonial rule. Captain Richard Whalley, a British consul in the Bench Maji region, was tasked with collecting ten pounds of coffee seeds from the Gesha Mountain area. These seeds’ journey from Ethiopia to Hacienda La Esmeralda—along with the discovery of their unique cup quality—highlights the complex and often murky path of global coffee trade.
Whalley’s mission was part of an Ethiopian wild coffee varietal survey commissioned by the Kenyan Department of Agriculture. Ethiopia’s wild forests are the genetic birthplace of coffee, and the project aimed to evaluate the commercial potential of hundreds of coffee varieties across British colonies. By the early 20th century, traders had already begun praising coffee from the Gesha region (also spelled “Gecha”). Though it’s unclear how the name became standardized as “Gesha,” reports confirm that Whalley collected and processed the ten-pound seed lot from the area surrounding Gesha Mountain. These seeds were later distributed through gene banks and research centers, eventually reaching CATIE in Costa Rica—where Hacienda La Esmeralda acquired them.
It was this elevation-grown Geisha that, in 2004, shocked the world with its remarkable aroma. That year marked the beginning of the Best of Panama (BOP) competition, a cupping event and auction that would inspire a new generation of Panamanian coffee producers. In that inaugural event, the Petersons did something revolutionary—they separated lots by specific sections of the farm during processing. One such lot came from the highlands of Jaramillo, and when it hit the cupping table, it stunned every judge. This was the first time a 100% Geisha sample had been tasted, and its dazzling clarity and vibrant aroma redefined expectations for high-altitude coffee. Hacienda La Esmeralda won the 2004 Best of Panama competition and shattered global price records at auction.
Changing the Coffee Industry
Following the 2004 breakthrough and Geisha’s debut at the Best of Panama auction, the Petersons focused on developing infrastructure to support even more precise processing and classification of exceptional lots. As auction prices soared, so too did the demand for experimental processes like natural and anaerobic methods, as well as the market’s appetite for uniqueness.
With robust infrastructure in place, Hacienda La Esmeralda began looking to the future. In 2007, the Petersons launched a ten-year coffee varietal research project, and over 400 different varieties were planted in the high-altitude region of El Velo.
Today, Hacienda La Esmeralda stands not only as a symbol of Geisha excellence but as a cornerstone of innovation and quality in specialty coffee worldwide.