Hacienda La Esmeralda: A Journey Through Terroir
Few names in coffee evoke such reverence as Hacienda La Esmeralda. For more than two decades, the Peterson family’s pursuit of excellence has shaped not just the trajectory of Panamanian coffee, but the entire specialty landscape.
With our latest special release, ‘Hacienda La Esmeralda: A Journey Through Terroir,’ we invite you to explore this legacy through four exquisite Geisha micro lots – two Washed, two Natural – each an expression of the land, process, and dedication that define one of the world’s most celebrated producers.
This limited-edition collection presents four 80-gram filter roasts, sourced directly from the Peterson family and representing the Esmeralda Special tier, the highest category available commercially outside of the farm’s private auction. Together, they offer a rare opportunity to taste the diversity of terroir and craftsmanship that continue to set Hacienda La Esmeralda apart.
A legacy that redefined coffee
In 2004, Hacienda La Esmeralda did more than win the Best of Panama coffee competition – it changed coffee forever. Leading up to that season, the Peterson family had begun separating a small group of unusual trees from their high-altitude Jaramillo plots.
These trees, a little-known variety (at the time) called Geisha (or Gesha) produced a cup that was unlike anything the family had tasted: luminous, floral, and tea-like, with layers of sweetness and aromatic complexity.
The Geisha variety has its origins in the Gesha forests of Ethiopia, near the border with South Sudan. In the 1930s, coffee researchers from the British colonial service collected seeds from this region for study, noting their strong resistance to coffee leaf rust (la roya) From there, Geisha made its way to Tanzania and Kenya, and eventually to Costa Rica in the 1950s, where it was grown and catalogued at the CATIE research centre (Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza).
Panamanian producers later sourced seeds from CATIE for their own experimental plantings, largely for the same reason: disease resistance. However, the variety’s extraordinary cup potential went unnoticed for decades – it wasn’t until the Peterson family began separating out specific Geisha plots at Hacienda La Esmeralda’s Jaramillo farm in the early 2000s that its remarkable floral and tea-like qualities were finally recognised.
When the Hacienda La Esmeralda’s Geisha was entered into competition in 2004, it shattered auction records, selling for more than three times the previous price record (US $21/pound, or US $46.30/kilogram). This drew global attention to Panama as a new frontier of coffee excellence – a legacy that has continued until today.
Since that moment, the Peterson family has continued to push boundaries, refining processing techniques, expanding experimental plantings, and deepening their understanding of how terroir shapes flavour. Their farms – Jaramillo, Cañas Verdes, and the innovation-focused El Velo — now stand as living laboratories of agronomy, biodiversity, and taste.
In 2025, that same dedication once again made history, when a washed Geisha from Hacienda La Esmeralda achieved over USD @30,000/kilogram at auction — the highest coffee price ever recorded in history.
The Four Coffees
Each coffee in A Journey Through Terroir represents a unique intersection of geography, process, and craft. Tasted side by side, they reveal the remarkable versatility of Geisha and the precision that defines Hacienda La Esmeralda’s approach.
Portón 4 WB – El Velo Farm, 1,870 masl – Washed
Harvested from eight-year-old Geisha trees on the El Velo farm, Portón 4 WB captures the elegance and purity that define the best of washed Panamanian coffees. The cherries underwent a 48-hour fermentation before 14 days of slow raised-bed drying at the Palmira mill. The result is crystalline and graceful: jasmine and orange blossom aromatics unfold into honeyed sweetness, rounded by a soft cinnamon finish. It’s a coffee that epitomises clarity and refinement, where structure and sweetness move in perfect balance.
Fundador 6 WB – Cañas Verdes Farm, 1,700 masl – Washed
Fundador comes from one of La Esmeralda’s oldest Geisha plantings, on the slopes of Cañas Verdes — the heart of the Peterson family’s original estate. Here, a consistent cool airflow and a pronounced dry season allow for slow, even cherry maturation. After a 48-hour fermentation and 28 days of raised-bed drying, this lot reveals remarkable depth and poise: jasmine and ripe peach meet passionfruit, honey, and a long, elegant finish. It is a study in balance — layered, transparent, and endlessly refined.
Durazno 2 NB – El Velo Farm, 1,870 masl – Natural
Named for its peach-like sweetness, Durazno 2 NB was harvested from a younger section of El Velo and dried naturally on raised beds for 56 days. The slow drying intensifies the sugars and preserves a delicate floral core. The cup is plush and velvety, with notes of jasmine, blackberry, honey, and vanilla. It’s expressive yet composed — a vivid demonstration of how El Velo’s even terrain and meticulous processing can translate natural fermentation into elegance rather than intensity.
Vista 4 NB – El Velo Farm, 1,815 masl – Natural
The Buena Vista lot, where this coffee was grown, experiences warm days and cool nights that heighten sugar concentration within the fruit. Dried for 48 days on raised beds, Vista 4 NB delivers tropical aromatics and rum-like richness, anchored by lingering honey sweetness and the whisper of florals that define the Geisha variety. Lush yet balanced, it captures the sensuality and complexity of natural processing at its most refined.
Hacienda La Esmeralda’s tiers and farms
All four coffees in this collection come from the Esmeralda Special tier — the same classification as the farm’s most exclusive non-auction microlots.
Coffees in this category typically score above 91 points, grown at elevations of 1,600–1,800 masl, and represent the pinnacle of what Hacienda La Esmeralda offers outside its Grand Reserve auction. They are distinguished by exceptional flavour clarity, structure, and terroir transparency — benchmarks that have set Esmeralda apart since its first historic Geisha release.
Hacienda La Esmeralda’s excellence is not the product of a single farm, but of three distinct sites, each contributing its own voice to the story of Geisha.
Jaramillo, perched high on the misty slopes of Volcán Barú, is where it all began. Its cool, humid climate and steep terrain yield delicate florals and the ethereal clarity that first defined Geisha’s identity.
Cañas Verdes, part of the original Peterson estate, offers steadier weather and a defined dry season that creates structured sweetness and balance — the foundation for coffees like Fundador.
El Velo, established in 2012, represents the family’s commitment to innovation. With its flatter topography and adjacent natural reserve, it allows for precision planting and microlot experimentation, producing expressive coffees like Portón, Durazno, and Vista. Across its 50 hectares, more than 400 Geisha accessions are under evaluation, reflecting Esmeralda’s ongoing drive to understand and elevate this extraordinary variety.
A celebration of craftmanship and origin
‘A Journey Through Terroir ‘is more than a release — it’s an invitation to explore one of coffee’s most influential legacies through flavour. Each of the four microlots offers a window into how altitude, soil, and microclimate can shape flavour in profound ways, and how the Peterson family’s pursuit of precision continues to redefine what’s possible with Geisha.
For the ONA Coffee team, this collection represents a meeting of shared values — craftsmanship, curiosity, and the relentless pursuit of flavour excellence. Whether you’re captivated by the jasmine clarity of the washed lots or the layered fruit depth of the naturals, this release stands as a celebration of what happens when craft, varietal and process meet in perfect harmony.
The Journey Through Terroir special release is now available via the ONA Coffee online store, or at selected retailers.
