In August 2025, 20 kilos of green coffee from a farm in Panama sold for $604,080. That’s $30,204 a kilo, about $13,700 a pound, and a world record for coffee at auction. The coffee was a Geisha, a variety that was a curiosity until 2004.
From Gesha to Panama
The variety takes its name from the Gori Gesha forest in southwestern Ethiopia, the same region where arabica grows wild, and it was collected there in the 1930s. Gesha is the Ethiopian place name; Geisha is how the coffee is usually spelled in Panama. Seeds went to Kenya and Tanzania, and in 1953 the variety reached CATIE, the agricultural research center in Costa Rica, where it was catalogued as T2722. In the 1960s CATIE sent it on to Panama. Genetic tests show that Panama’s Geisha, descended from T2722, is distinct and uniform, which is part of why the name now means something specific.
For decades it was one tree among many. Then Hacienda La Esmeralda, a farm in Boquete owned by the Peterson family since 1967, picked out the Geisha growing on its Jaramillo plot and entered it in the Best of Panama competition in 2004. It won, and sold for $21 a pound, a record at the time. Geisha is known for a floral, tea-like cup, with notes tasters often describe as jasmine and bergamot.
The Auction Records
| Year | Top lot at Best of Panama | Price |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Hacienda La Esmeralda Geisha | $21 a pound (about $46 a kilo) |
| 2024 | Lamastus Family Estates, Elida Geisha Natural | $10,013 a kilo |
| 2025 | Hacienda La Esmeralda, washed Geisha “Canvas of Terroir” | $30,204 a kilo, the record |
| 2026 | Lamastus Family Estates, Elida Geisha Torre | $18,004 a kilo |
The 2025 record lot scored 98 points and had been through a 48-hour cold fermentation. A Dubai coffee company bought all 20 kilos. This year’s auction closed on September 24, and although the top lot came in well under the record, at $270,060 for 15 kilos, the 50 lots still brought in $3,041,940.
What a Record Price Means Per Cup
At $30,204 a kilo, the green coffee in one 18-gram double shot would cost more than $500, and that’s before roasting and shipping. Nobody sells it at that price in a café. Record lots are tiny, 15 or 20 kilos, and recent buyers have included a Tokyo roaster and a Dubai coffee company. At these prices it’s as much about prestige as about the cup.
Should Geisha Go in a Cortado?
Most roasters would say no. Geisha’s appeal is its delicate floral side, and warm milk flattens exactly that. Save it for a pour-over or a straight espresso, and make your cortado with something that has the body to stand up to milk, such as a Brazilian natural or a blend with some robusta. There are plenty of more affordable Geishas from Panama, Colombia and Ethiopia now, and they’re worth tasting black at least once. The processing method will change the cup as much as the farm does.