Olympus Geisha Coffee Beans

What does top-tier Geisha taste like? Here’s a cup of Geisha that costs four thousand RMB—every sip is bursting with the flavor of money... Just kidding. But you’ve probably guessed it—today we’re bringing you the Geisha coffee beans from Panama’s premier coffee estate, Finca Sophia.

Like Finca La Mula, Finca Sophia is also managed by Mr. Willem Boot, an authority in the world of Geisha. When Geisha first made a splash in 2004, Mr. Boot was one of the judges. Impressed by the charm of Geisha coffee, he established both Finca La Mula in 2006 and Finca Sophia in 2008. Today, these two estates are among Panama’s most premium specialty coffee farms—and also some of the finest Geisha-growing estates in the world.

Established in 2008, Finca Sophia sits at an altitude between 1,850 to 2,150 meters, making it one of the highest-altitude coffee farms in Central America. The estate was originally owned by Ricardo Koyner, proprietor of Finca Kotowa. After William and U.S.-based coffee roaster Equator purchased it from Koyner, they focused on planting the Geisha variety and continuously pushed the boundaries of high-altitude cultivation.

Finca Sophia borders the Parque Internacional La Amistad, a park spanning over 4,000 square kilometers across Costa Rica and Panama, known for its exceptional biodiversity. The area where Finca Sophia is located was once deforested land. Due to intensive agricultural development in the early stages, the forests and soil there eventually degraded.

With the goal of becoming a buffer zone between the Parque Internacional La Amistad and this intensively farmed region, the estate’s owners planted hundreds of native and environmentally suitable shade trees, as well as thousands of coffee trees. They also place strong emphasis on sustainability in coffee production—using a combination of organic and traditional farming methods, integrating organic and conventional fertilizers, and even relying mostly on manual weeding to avoid the use of herbicides. Fungicides are used sparingly, only to control specific fungal outbreaks. Irrigation at Finca Sophia comes entirely from natural mountain spring water within the estate, with no reliance on river water or municipal supplies. As a result, in just seven short years, the estate transformed the original landscape and soil composition of the land.

The efforts at Finca Sophia have paid off—their Geisha coffee is of exceptional quality. In 2017, during their first participation in the Best of Panama (BOP) competition, their coffee received an outstanding score of 93+ from all 12 judges in the first round and was hailed as “Super Geisha.” It went on to win the washed Geisha category championship without surprise. In 2020, they claimed the washed Geisha championship again. That champion lot was auctioned at $1,300.50 per pound, equivalent to about 8,803 RMB per pound of green beans. Factoring in various costs, the price for cafes is estimated to be around 30,000 RMB per pound, which means a single 20g pour-over cup could cost between three to four thousand RMB.