Taxonomy_of_the_coffee_plant

Panamanian Geisha: A wild Ethiopian landrace that is now cultivated widely in Central America . lt is
named for the town Gesha in Western Ethiopia where it was first collected in the forests in the 1930s. After
that it seems to have been sent to the Limungu research station in Tanzania and from where it was brought
to Agronomico Tropical de lnvestigacion y Ensenanza (CATIE) in Costa Rica in 1953. Then it was
distributed throughout Panama via CATIE in the 1960s because of its tolerance to coffee leaf rust. That
was also how it made its way to the Boquete region of Panama, where it was rediscovered in the early
2000.
However, what happened in the 50 years between distribution and rediscovery can only be speculated.
One reasonable explanation could be that Geisha is a rather low yielding variety. This low prodcutivity
together with a higher brittleness of the plant's branches could explain why farmers did not adapt this
variety for large-scale cultivation.
The coffee gained fame in 2005, when the Peterson family of Boquete (Hacienda La Esmeralda, Panama)
entered it into the "Best of Panama" competition and auction. Nowadays it is widely known for its
outstanding cup profile with delicate floral, jasmine, and peach-like aromas (when plants are managed well
at high altitude). It then also received exceptionally high marks and broke the then-record for green coffee
auction prices, selling regularly for over $20/pound.
Yet, significant confusion about Geisha remains, as it seems that a multitude of genetically distinct plant
genotypes 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 is
distinct and uniform.
47