Cultivated in the Boquete region of Northern Panama, Geisha coffee, a highly prized speciality coffee bean, is regarded as the world’s most expensive variety. It smashed all previous records when it sold at auction for $1,029 a pound in 2019.

Whilst also grown in several other countries across Central and South America, Boquete’s Geisha bean is considered unmatched in quality and taste.

The Geisha from this small area of Panama has been scored 98 out of 100 by specialist publication Coffee Review, making theirs a crop which exceeds any other Geisha, and all other coffee in the world.

Nestled between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, it’s believed that the altitude, volcanic soil and colder microclimate offered by Boquete’s location in Northern Panama, contributes to the beans’ unique sweetness and taste.

Speciality coffee producer Justin Boudeman farms in the Boquete area. Justin Boudeman: “We’re never going to compete on a commodity level. We’re a…we’re blessed by this terroir. We’re a specialty and a luxury item and that’s our niche, that’s our niche in the market.”

With coffee now a luxury business, it’s thought that Panama’s harvest of Geisha beans may command even higher prices in 2020.