Panama
Ninety Plus, Geisha Lot 23132
250g
QUALITY SCORE: 91.75
Cup Notes
Plum / Strawberry / Kiwi / Cherry Syrup / Yogurt / Dark Chocolate
Every sip tells a tale of tradition, innovation, and exquisite flavour. Crafted with passion and precision, and processed with the special Criolic™ method, indulge in the symphony of plum, strawberry, kiwi, and dark chocolate notes, meticulously nurtured by the award-winning Finca Ninety Plus.
Elevate your coffee experience to new heights.
Suggested for espresso and filter
when we roast
We freshly roast to order all coffees on Monday, Wednesday and Friday (excluding national holidays), and ship the same day! Cut-off time is 11:59pm (UTC+1) of the day before the roast day. *We only ship whole beans*
Details
- Quality Score
- 91.75
- Series
- Premium Rarities
- Producer
- Ninety Plus
- Country
- Panama
- Terroir
- Barù Volcano
- Altitude
- 1540 masl
- Process
- Special
- Arabica cultivar
- Geisha
- Picked in
- February 2023
- Arrived in
- January 2024
- Shipped in
- Box + Vacuum pack
- Roast profile by
- Rubens Gardelli
- Roasted on
- Customised solid-drum roaster
Suggested brewing recipe
To help you make the best out of your coffee, Rubens has crafted recipes for brewing this particular lot in filter.
There are two recipes: one for conical brewer (think v60) and one for flat-bottom brewer (think Kalita), however you can surely brew our coffees with any other brewing device, such as immersion brewers.
Please remember that these recipes are intended as starting points and may require further adjustments if the equipment you use is not identical to the one in the recipe; the characteristics of water used can also make a big difference in brewing.
Finally, the recipes suited specifically to Rubens’ roasting style, hence we do not guarantee that they will work as a universal reference.
There are two recipes: one for conical brewer (think v60) and one for flat-bottom brewer (think Kalita), however you can surely brew our coffees with any other brewing device, such as immersion brewers.
Please remember that these recipes are intended as starting points and may require further adjustments if the equipment you use is not identical to the one in the recipe; the characteristics of water used can also make a big difference in brewing.
Finally, the recipes suited specifically to Rubens’ roasting style, hence we do not guarantee that they will work as a universal reference.
Have fun brewing!
V60 STYLE
- Coffee:
- 17g
- Grind:
- Comandante 37 clicks (medium)
- Water:
- 250g (40 tds) at 90°C
- Filter:
- Light Roast T-92, Cafec
- Time:
- 3:10
- Brew strenght:
- 1,50
FLATBED
- Coffee:
- 17g
- Grind:
- Comandante 37 clicks (medium)
- Water:
- 250g (40 tds) at 90°C
- Filter:
- Stagg [X], Fellow
- Time:
- 2:55
- Brew strenght:
- 1,47 tds
THE STORY BEHIND
Ninety Plus is a coffee producer which has been transforming the coffee farming and marketing model since 2006.
The Ninety Plus story begins in Ethiopia, coffee’s homeland. The very first coffees produced by the hands of the founder Joseph Brodsky amazed judges in world competitions and created waves of change in the industry. The Ninety Plus special “natural process” coffees were shared with coffee growers in Panama beginning in 2007, and this initiated an overhaul of specialty coffee processing practices throughout the Americas.
Today, Ninety Plus applies its coffee reforestation model to more than 1,000 hectares of magical land in the western highlands of Panama.
Its coffees have earned the world’s highest accolades and have been used to win 5 of the past 6 World Brewers Cup Championships. Ninety Plus is defined by its continued evolution, each season advancing its vision for the coffee flavours and farms of the future while perfecting the Ninety Plus brand experience for a global audience.
Inspired by the thousands of heirloom Ethiopian coffee varieties growing wild in the understory of forest in their natural state, Ninety Plus began developing coffee estate farms in Panama’s best coffee lands in 2009, restoring forest and increasing biodiversity in the process.
THE VARIETY
Panamanian Geisha was originally collected from coffee forests in Ethiopia in the 1930s. From there, it was sent to the Lyamungu research station in Tanzania, and then brought to the Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE) in Central America in 1953, where it was logged as accession T2722.
It was distributed throughout Panama via CATIE in the 1960s after it had been recognized for tolerance to coffee leaf rust. However, the plant's branches were brittle and not favored by farmers, so it was not widely planted.
The coffee came to prominence in 2005 when the Peterson family of Boquete, Panama, entered it into the "Best of Panama" competition and auction. It received exceptionally high marks and broke the then-record for green coffee auction prices, selling for over $20/pound. There is significant confusion about Geisha because there are multiple genetically distinct plant types that have been referred to as Geisha, many of which share similar geographic origins in Ethiopia.
Recent genetic diversity analyses conducted by World Coffee Research confirm that Panamanian Geisha descended from T2722 is distinct and uniform. It is associated with extremely high cup quality when the plants are managed well at high altitude and is known for its delicate floral, jasmine, and peach-like aromas. The spellings Geisha and Gesha are often used interchangeably, relating to the fact that there is no set translation from the dialects of Ethiopia to English.
The coffee was first recorded in germplasm records with the spelling “Geisha,” and coffee researchers and germplasm banks have mostly maintained that spelling over many decades, leading to that spelling being promoted and used first in the coffee industry. The coffee was originally collected in Ethiopia in a region close to a mountain whose name is most commonly rendered in English as Gesha. Consequently, many in the coffee industry have preferred to rescue that spelling.
THE FERMENTATION PROCESS
This lot was harvested on 3 February 2023 from Estate 06, located in the heart of Geisha Estates at an elevation of 1,540 masl, with a total area of 0.32 ha. The trees on this estate are sixteen years old. Processing coffee is a twist on Ninety Plus's Criolic™ process, which lasts 72 hours. Coffee was dried for 25 days in Red Room into an uneven formation, giving it a distinct complexity.
Criolic™ processing is a coffee processing method that employs low temperatures to slow down the breakdown of sugars and other complex proteins in the coffee mucilage. This process commences with freshly harvested coffee cherries, which are stored at low temperatures using water or other methods.
During Criolic™ processing, the coffee cherries are subjected to cold temperatures within an oxygen-controlled environment, typically maintained at around 4 to 10 degrees Celsius. This controlled oxygen environment significantly influences the resulting coffee's flavour profile. Oxygen levels during processing can profoundly affect the flavour as well. The regulation of oxygen availability during fermentation creates an environment where the bacteria within the coffee cherries can generate distinctive flavours and aromas not present in conventionally processed coffee.
After the processing stage, the seeds are spread out in a single-layer formation not exceeding 2cm in thickness on raised African beds in the Red Room. They are initially placed on the top level until reaching 18% humidity, then gradually shifted to lower levels to prolong drying time. Regular agitation every 2 hours during daylight ensures uniform drying and prevents localized overheating. Typically, drying lasts 20-25 days until the coffee in parchment reaches 11.5% humidity.
The resulting coffee beans are renowned for their unique and intricate flavour profile, often exhibiting notes of berries, tropical fruits, and floral characteristics. Criolic™ processing can yield coffee highly sought after by specialty coffee enthusiasts due to its distinctive and exceptional flavour profile not achievable through traditional processing methods.
The pioneering instance of this method's application is exemplified by Batch #227 from the 2017 Harvest at Geisha Estates in Panama, which clinched the 2017 World Brewers Cup in Budapest. Two years later, a variation of this process utilizing Saccharomyces Cerevisiae yeast triumphed in the 2019 World Brewers Cup in Seattle.
