Geisha coffee: see where to buy with prices of up to R$50 – 03/18/2024 – Café na Prensa

Geisha coffees, originally from Ethiopia, which tend to be sold at exorbitant prices, are beginning to enter the Brazilian market with greater force. With this, it is now possible to find options at slightly more affordable prices. In São Paulo, at least two coffee shops are selling packages for up to R$50.

The award-winning Pato Rei, with two units in the capital of São Paulo, is running a promotion until the end of this week in which the little package, which previously cost R$120, is going for R$60 (250 g).

The offer came about for an unusual reason. Enel was going to carry out maintenance, last Friday (15), on the electrical network in the region where the café is located, in Pinheiros, in the west zone of São Paulo. As there would be no power, the establishment decided to close and lay off staff on that day. But Enel suspended maintenance, and the café ended up closing “in vain”. To try to reverse the loss, they ran a promotion to boost the sale of geisha, which is one of the most valued coffees in the house.

These are grains grown in Mantiqueira de Minas by producer Luiz Paulo Pereira and subjected to an anaerobic fermentation process. With typical characteristics of the geisha variety, it is floral and has notes of papaya. It was the coffee used by Tiago de Mello, partner of Pato Rei, in the Brazilian brewing coffee championship – on that occasion, he came in third place.

Flipo, a coffee shop located in Consolação, central region of São Paulo, sells a geisha grown in the volcanic region – an area between the south of Minas Gerais and the northeast of São Paulo that practices high-altitude agriculture on volcanic soil – for R$50 per package with 200 g. It is no exception to the rule of coffees of this variety and has floral and fruity flavors, such as notes of jasmine, papaya and lemon.

Geisha (or gesha) is a variety of Arabica coffee that emerged in the village of Geisha, in Ethiopia – it is therefore not related to the geishas of Japanese culture. It was in Panama, however, that this variety actually found fertile soil and achieved a quality recognized worldwide.

Today, it is one of the most valued varieties on the planet. It generally produces a very aromatic coffee, with floral notes and balanced acidity. Therefore, it can reach very high prices in the specialty coffee market – it is common for them to be sold in competitive auctions.

This appreciation of geisha began in the early 2000s and has grown since then. In 2022, a microlot produced by the Lamastus Family Estates farm in Panama was sold at auction for the impressive price of US$6,034 (approximately R$30,000) per pound – or US$13,302 (approximately R$65,000) per kilo.

In Brazil, the variety has also reached record values. Last year, a lot cultivated by Orfeu in São Sebastião da Grama (about 250 km from São Paulo) was sold for US$ 130.30/lb-weight, or R$ 84.5 thousand per 60 kg bag, which corresponds to a value of R$1,410 per kilo, becoming the highest value ever paid at auction for a Brazilian natural coffee.

It’s no surprise that geishas are established figures in high-level competitions, such as the World Barista Championship (WBC), which annually elects the best coffee preparation professional in the world, and the World Brewers Cup (WBrC), which focuses on drip coffee. . Of the nine WBrC winners between 2011 and 2019, seven won the title by preparing geisha coffees.

Of course, variety is not the only decisive factor for coffee quality. Many issues affect the final quality of the drink, such as terroir, management, post-harvest processing, roasting, etc. Therefore, it is not enough to be from a variety considered noble. The coffee must undergo qualified treatment throughout the entire chain.



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