This is from the world renowned Hacienda La Esmerelda in Panama, and it is one of the most famous auction lots. It is 100% Geisha Varietal and is from the section of the farm called Colga.

Hacienda La Esmeralda is a farm in the mountains of western Panama located on the slopes of Mount Barú, in the munciplaity of Boquete. This specific lot of coffee is grown in the Canas Veres region, which has an elevation of 1400m above sea level.

Price Peterson tells the story of the coffee and the farm where it grows:

"In 1996 we bought a coffee farm in Boquete, in the area known as Jaramillo. We had known for some time that the farm had good altitude (1450 to 1700 meters) and a nice slightly orange cup. It was an old farm with an interesting collection of coffee varieties planted by various owners over the years. We increased the plantings to about 60 hectares (part had been converted to a dairy) and basically ‘overhauled’ the farm. Much of the newer plantings did not come into production until the 03/04 harvest.

During the  year 2002 it occurred to my son, Daniel, that perhaps the cup of this farm was not due to an overall goodness, but rather perhaps there was one area that was producing an exceptional cup and, when mixed together with the rest of the production, a generally ‘good’ cup resulted. He tested this notion by cupping coffees from all over the farm. Sure enough, there was one small valley at the high end of the farm which produced the extraordinary cup now known as ‘Esmeralda Special’ – and which was the coffee that sold at the extraordinary price. The coffee on the remainder of the farm remains quite good, but not the really knock-your-socks-off cup of the Esmeralda Special.

We now know that this remarkable cup is the result of climate (cold), variety, careful harvesting and inventive processing. Due to the climate and variety, it is also a low yielding coffee, only producing about 100 bags at present.

We are not really sure yet whether this cup is the result of the micro-climate in the small valley, the rather unusual variety of coffee planted there, or a combination of both. We will be looking into this in the coming harvest. It is also a very low yielding area – again due to both the cool climate and very long internode variety. Thus it only produced about 50 bags this year and, hopefully, 75 to 100 in the coming harvest.

We do know that this coffee is NOT the result of intense selection – a common requirement for great coffees. We actually export a higher percentage of cherry picked in this coffee than in the rest of the farm. Likewise, it is not just coffee from the peak of the harvest – the quality seems to hold up from beginning to end. It is also not a ‘curiosity’ coffee – i.e. one that has passed through the digestive tract of an odd animal or originated in a isolated island in the middle of the sea. We suspect and hope that it will be a coffee that can be multiplied in Boquete to a point where reasonable volumes can be obtained. "

Like the Naranjo, in the cup you get really bright lemon fruit acidty backed up with stone fruit and peaches, but with this one you get a much more floral finish with the slightest hint of oranges.     

Lemon, stoned fruit, peaches, oranges, floral finish.