Hacienda La Esmeralda Geisha

Few coffees have changed the market the way this one did. Hacienda La Esmeralda sits in Palmira, in the Boquete highlands of Chiriquí, and its Geisha is the reason Panama is spoken of in the same breath as the world’s most expensive green coffee.

The place and the family

The Peterson family runs the estate, with Daniel and Rachel Peterson now at the front of it. The farms are listed as Cañas Verdes, El Velo and Jaramillo, spread across the volcanic slopes around Boquete.

In 1999, La Niña storms wiped out most of the farm’s coffee plantings. One of the few survivors was a Geisha, so the family built around it and moved its plantings to higher ground. The farm describes the rediscovery of Geisha in 2004 as a happenstance of altitude and lot separation.

Altitude, variety and process

Geisha is a tall, low-yielding variety that reached Panama by way of Costa Rica, originally for its resistance to coffee rust. Low yields kept most producers from taking it seriously.

The Esmeralda Special line is made of high-elevation microlots grown above 1,950 meters. The estate produces both washed and natural Geisha, along with a cascara tea from dried coffee cherries. The family also prefers the spelling “Geisha,” citing official documents from the variety’s arrival in Panama.

In the cup

The estate describes its Geisha as perfumed, with jasmine florals and stone fruit. Daniel Peterson has named jasmine and peach syrup, and the barista and roaster Roberto Brenes called the style a “tea-type coffee,” not a “coffee-type coffee.” More broadly, the variety is known for a soft, nuanced character, depth and a long finish.

Where the reputation comes from

In 2004 the farm entered its Geisha in the Best of Panama competition and auction. It took first place, and jurors were struck by its aromatics and structure. Daniel Peterson’s first reaction to that vintage, in his own words, was “Wow, I screwed up!” The result reset the field.

The farm has held its own auction every year since 2007, selling the season’s best lots online. In 2017 a 100-pound lot reached $601 per pound at Best of Panama, then the highest price paid for green coffee.

The record has since moved to kilograms. At the 2025 Best of Panama auction, a washed Geisha from the estate scored 98 points and drew 549 bids. Julith Coffee of Dubai bought the 20-kilogram lot at $30,204 per kilogram, just under $605,000 in total. A natural Geisha from the same farm scored 97 and sold for $23,608 per kilogram, with roughly five times as many bids.

That auction raised $2.8 million overall, with an average of $2,861 per kilogram. Rachel Peterson called the result a recognition of the whole team’s effort.