Panama Esmeralda Special Fundador Geisha Natural

About Panama Esmeralda Special Fundador Geisha Natural

Arrived late summer 2026 and retained, unopened until now, in their vacuum packed bags. This is a Direct Trade coffee.

Hacienda Esmeralda Special Lots represent some of the best coffee produced by this world famous farm. It is barely enough to say that Esmeralda is legendary. Their coffees sell for staggering sums and are in demand worldwide, especially in Asia and the Middle East. In the most recent Best of Panama 2026 auction held weeks ago, Esmeralda was awarded the Panama Cup for the highest overall score in the competition. Their Geisha coffees, both Natural and Washed, sold for just over $10,000 per kilogram or roughly $4,550 a pound - before import and roasting!  They finished 2nd in Geisha Natural, 3rd in Geisha Washed and 2nd in Varieties for a Laurina. In 2025, the took 1st place in all three categories, something it is unlikely to ever be repeated. Bear in mind that hundreds of coffees are entered into the competition and they are judged - blindly and de-identified - over weeks by National and International jurors (including Roastmasters principal). 

We have just 10 kilograms of this coffee available and can only sell it in 1 and 2 pound increments with a limit of 5 per customer.

Fundador 6 NB was harvested on February 13th, 2026 from the Fundador lot of Hacienda La Esmeralda’s Cañas Verdes farm. After harvest, the coffee cherries were taken to Hacienda La Esmeralda’s mill in Palmira, where they were slow dried for 47 days on raised beds. Fundador 6 NB has notes of Jasmin, tangerine, strawberry and honey. The N is for Natural and B for pre-drying on raised beds.

Rachel and Daniel Peterson, the siblings who run Hacienda Esmeralda today.

We purchased this lot and one other when we visited the farm at the very beginning of May. 

Years ago Price Peterson, patriarch of Panama's Hacienda Esmeralda, brought a native Ethiopian seed variety called Geisha to the mountains of Panama. It was planted along with other experimental seedlings in an effort to discover what might grow well in their microclimate. A few years later when the first cherries were mature enough to taste a superstar was born! The geisha went on to break auction record after record, sought by coffee aficianados the world over.

Cup Characteristics: Wow. Powerfully floral aromas all throughout the aroma phases. In the cup, the florals expanded as the coffee cooled. In addition to jasmine and honeysuckle, there is vanilla plus sweet tropical fruit flavors. Complex, refined, delicate and unique.

Pronounced floral flavors of jasmine and hibiscus. .

Roasting Notes: Geisha coffees need to be treated with some delicacy during roasting. If you roast too dark you will lose much of the florality, too light and there will not be enough body. Instructions differ with roasting machine but after first crack is substantially underway reduce the heat to very low, even off if you roast in cast iron drum or something that retains a lot of heat. The object at this point in the roast is to allow the development time without adding to roast darkness. The roast should be completely over with no hint of second crack. This, of course, is our opinion and your own preference may differ.