Panama Esmeralda Private Collection Geisha Washed

About Panama Esmeralda Private Collection Geisha Washed

Arrived August 2026 in vacuum packages by airfreight direct from the producer. 

Panama Esmeralda Private Collection Geisha represents a bargain in one of the world's most expensive and sought after coffees - Hacienda La Esmeralda Special - which is sold only through privately held, international auctions for roasters. Each year for the past several years, Hacienda Esmeralda has held a private auction of their prized Geisha varietal, each Esmeralda Special lot coming from a specific plot of land on their farm. Altogether there is not much coffee, only about 20,000 pounds, which must fill a big demand from all corners of the world (this may sound like a lot but is only half of one shipping container). Competition for the coffee is fierce and prices go very high. Their 2024 auction fetches average price per pound (green) of well over $200. In 2025, Esmeralda took first place in all 3 categories in the annual Best of Panama competition:  Geisha Washed, Geisha Natural and Varietals (everythng else). This was an astonishing achievement.  This year, in 2026, the competition nearly repeated itself as Esmeralda took top honors in Varietals for a Laurina and was in the top couple of places in both Geisha categories. The achievements, demand and prices keep going up. 

This year we have both Washed and Natural Esmeralda Private Collection.  The Washed Geisha comes from the Canas Verdes property; the Natural Geisha comes from their Jaramillo property.

Esmeralda is best known for their highest scoring and most expensive Hacienda Esmeralda Especial lots. We will have a couple of those offerings available in the near future. Fortunately, for the past decade or so Esmeralda has released this  "second coffee", the 100% Panama Esmeralda Private Collection Geisha. As in the wine world where the second wine of the very top chateaux are fabulous wines in their own right, still costly but a relative bargain. Lafite-Rothschild has its Lafite Rothschild Carruades de Lafite; Chateau Latour its Les Forts de Latour. These wines would be great in anyone's book, but they are withheld, often for a tiny detail, from being in the rarified top lot. The same holds true for Esmeralda Private Collection Geisha. This is a wonderful coffee, exhibiting much of the same lovely jasmine, floral and lemony tones witnessed in the auction lots but at less than the price. Private Collection Geisha has crept up in price too and is difficult to acquire. It still represents an excellent value considering its flavors and pedigree.

Supply, as always, is limited, but especially this year. Coffee producing areas in Panama, Costa Rica and northern Colombia experienced greatly reduced crop sizes due to back to back heavy rains during the flowering cycle which caused coffee plants to drop their flowers. Coffee cherries develop from the flowers, so with many fewer flowers there was much less coffee. Which farms and varieties were affected varied a lot but some farms reported crop reductions of over 80%.

Private Collection Cañas Verdes Washed is a mix of high performing Geisha washed microlots from Hacienda La Esmeralda’s Cañas Verdes Farm. Each microlot was processed at Hacienda La Esmeralda’s mill in Palmira. These selected microlots were evaluated through multiple cupping sessions to ensure optimal sensory quality and profile consistency. Private Collection Cañas Verdes Washed displays notes of sweet lemon, jasmine and peaches.  The Cañas Verdes Geisha grows at elevations between 1600 to 1800 meters.

We visited Esmeralda in late April 2026 and spent some enjoyable hours cupping there.  Barry has enjoyed a long relationship with the Peterson family.  Price, the company founder, along with his wife Susan, has been a great influence in the specialty coffee industry and in Boquete in particular.  Their son Daniel is credited with the re-discovery of the Geisha variety nearly two decades ago and is involved in day to day farm management while their daughter Rachel oversees sales and marketing.  Their coffee is vibrantly sought after internationally. 

Naturally, every detail of growing and processing has been done at the farm to produce this fine, washed coffee. The finished green beans just arrived at our warehouse in vacuum packed boxes, ready for you to roast and enjoy.

Cup Characteristics: Very lush and delicate sweet floral notes, especially Jasmine and coffee blossom, with pronounced lemon-lime citrus acidity. Generously fruit filled and light candy flavors. Soft, lush, refined and light chocolate mouthfeel. A coffee with obvious pedigree and extremely approachable.

Roasting Notes: Keep it light and we recommend pulling this roast just after first crack or extending development time with low to no heat for 60-90 seconds. Depending on the roaster you use and its controls, it is good to ramp up quickly. On a Behmor, this means P1. This will best preserve the delicate Geisha citrus and fruit flavors, which can be masked if roasted darker.

Rachel and Daniel Peterson