Wednesday, September 22, 2004


Geishas on Panama Mountains

These geishas wear leaves and flowers, not kimonos, since they are a type of coffee tree. Price Peterson, the new owner of Esmeralda coffee farm, found a stand of them in a remote corner of the property. Instead of mixing them with the rest of the beans, as had always been done, he tried them on their own. After he had touched down again, he gathered the 6 precious bags of fruit, named them Jaramillo Especial after the region, and took them to the SCAA auction. The coffee scored 96 points and was auctioned for the highest price ever, $21 per pound for the green beans. So around 800 people will have the privilege of trying a pound of this coffee roasted for around $45 a shot.

What will they taste? I scored one test roast's worth (thanks, Bob), roasted it very, very carefully, and tasted. My Hungarian grandmother would have loved this coffee. She used to make a festive desert, rakos palacsinta, consisting of a layer cake of crepes, alternated with melted chocolate sprinkled with roasted filberts, and apricot preserves spiked with apricot brandy, topped, of course, with whipped cream. This coffee is liquid rakos palacsinta, and has a jasmine tea aroma and some mandarin zest to boot (crepe batter with jasmine tea? Hmm.)

I would have loved to have been at the auction cupping as the tasters stumbled across this cup amidst what passes for quality coffee these days in Central America. In the last generation, the traditional tall and scraggly coffee tree of America, the Bourbon cultivar, has been replaced by Caturra and Catuai, more compact, easy to pick, trees. These beans have their champions, since they are exceptionally crisp, clean, and striking. But to me, they taste of peanut flavored lemonade, with vast swaths of nothingness where the rest of the tastes should be; striking yes, like finding a parking garage when expecting a building. The Geisha cultivar is close to its Ethiopian ancestry, and tastes like the very best from Harar and Yrgacheffe, a heady and complex mix of enticing flavors. I hope Cental American coffee farmers take note -- the Jaramillo went for $21 per pound, the next highest coffee for $2.50 per pound. Maybe, in ten years, we'll get a lot more geishas from Central America

Jim Schulman

posted by Jim Schulman | 5:55 PM | top | link to this | email this: | links to this post | | 0 comments

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