Because it is patently uncool for legitimate coffee professionals to gush over gag novelties for coffee tourists — i.e., kopi luwak — the media needs an alternative outlet to feed its overly simplistic “since it’s the most expensive, it must be the best” obsession. This is what we once called the nouveau riche stereotype: knowing the price of everything but the value of nothing (credit to Oscar Wilde’s quote on cynics). Coffee from Panama’s Hacienda La Esmeralda farm fits the bill nicely, and the worldwide media parade hit the streets with the news that their Esmeralda Special fetched $117.50 a pound at auction this week.

So far, this week’s hit parade includes NBC Bay Area, who yesterday reported on an industry cupping of the Esmeralda at the Flora Grubb Gardens: Cupping Coffee With Bay Area “Titans” NBC Bay Area. “Titans”? Are NBC headlines not-so-subtly plugging the DVD sales of their long-canceled TV series?

Even more bizarre, the article cited the L.A. Times — which decided that a coffee cupping among Bay Area roasters in SF’s Bayview district was newsworthy in the Southland: ‘Cupping’ with the boutique coffee titans in San Francisco | Daily Dish | Los Angeles Times. (Nice photo in the L.A. Times, btw, stolen below.) But beyond Bay Area cuppings, Esmeralda news and cuppings have reached as far as London’s The Guardian: Is the ‘world’s best’ coffee worth it? | Life and style | guardian.co.uk.

Of course, we’re no better — having written about the Esmeralda Geisha breaking price records in 2006 and publishing our own road-testing experience with the coffee in 2007. The trouble is that while the Hacienda La Esmeralda farm produces some fantastic coffees (the farm also scored highest at a Rainforest Alliance cupping in April), they’re hardly the only player. But with the way human psychology works sometimes, you might never know that.

The cruelties of second place

All it takes is scoring ahead of another coffee by a few, relatively insignificant digits to make all the difference when forced rankings are involved. CoffeeRatings.com uses such a forced-ranking system, and we can honestly say that the differences between our #1 and #5 are insignificant enough to flip-flop their order with something as subtle as the day’s humidity.

Subjective matters of personal taste aside, who can honestly discern the clear superiority of a coffee that scores 88.60 versus one that gets an 87.69? But we are invariably asked by anyone unfamiliar with our Web site, “What is your #1 coffee?”

Curiously enough, the Hacienda La Esmeralda did not win the 2009 Roasters Guild Coffee of the Year (pdf, 57kb). That went to a coffee from composite triple beatC.I. Viramax Colombia S. A., and La Esmeralda came in second. And the 2008 Roasters Guild Coffee of the Year went to a coffee from Colombia’s C.I. Racafe & CIA S.C.A., where La Esmeralda also came in second.

Of course, there’s no dishonor in perennially placing in second. Its price tags at auction and the familiar consistency of La Esmeralda contribute to its prominence in the press as the world’s ‘best’ coffee. But good luck finding this kind of hype for one of the recent Colombia winners. On the top, there’s only room for one. Adding others to the mix would only be too confusing.

UPDATE: June 12, 2009
Newsday published a brief series of photos from the aforementioned cupping event, explaining a cupping along the way: The elaborate art of coffee cupping: Step by step — Newsday.com.

Walking in to a Peet’s Coffee & Tea last week, I noticed they are once again offering their supply of Panama Esmeralda Geisha as a roast-dated “Reserve” coffee. We wrote about this coffee varietal last month (and also in 2006). It has consistently sold at record auction prices, and it has won numerous awards for the best coffee stock out there. (Good luck finding it at Starbucks.)

Unlike the ever-popular yarn for the coffee tourists known as kopi luwak, you will actually find reviews of the varietal on CoffeeReview.com. And although I didn’t purchase a sample at the $130-a-pound auction price for the green beans, I did purchase a roasted half-pound for $25 — for “research purposes” — making it the most expensive coffee I’ve ever purchased.

So what’s the lowdown on this coffee? No surprise: upon opening the bag (two days after the roast date) I immediately noticed how Peet’s will roast anything darker than I’d like — even a prized Central American coffee that has garnered ten first place awards in the past four years. For a Central American coffee with such subtle floral and fruit-like elements to it, roasting it darkly enough so that the beans start surfacing oil (well into the second crack) is a bit like serving prized Kobe beef cooked medium well.

Its roasted coffee fragrance is dominated by floral notes and some caramel. (Here I’m reserving the word aroma exclusively to the olfactory sensation at the back of the throat, per ISO methodology and Espresso Italiano Tasting.) The fragrance is rather subtle, however, and not as potent as Peet’s write-up leads you to believe.

Brewing it in a Cona vacuum pot (vac pot being my clear favorite brewing method for more delicate coffees), it produced a surprising full and richer mouthfeel — not the kind you’d normally expect from a Central American coffee. Tasting it, right away you know you’re dealing with really, really good coffee. It has a wide breadth of flavors — jasmine, some slight citrus, and also some darker, earthy notes that gave it an unexpected structure. Which gave me the idea that it might not make such a terrible espresso after all.

Brewing it as an espresso, it produced an adequate layer of medium brown, even crema. It carried a lot of bright notes in the cup. Its vac pot mouthfeel did not translate to a great espresso body — it was a touch thin. But it makes a very good quality espresso. However, and no surprise, espresso does not highlight the real merits of this bean. (Espresso cup in the photo below courtesy of Bar Lamia, Portovenere.)

Speaking of merits, is Panama Esmeralda worth the expense? In a word, no. Or at least with the way that Peet’s roasted it to something more pedestrian. However, I do recommend it for a one-time tasting to calibrate your coffee palate.

Today’s Globe and Mail (Canada) reported on the arrival of the $15-a-cup (CAN$) Hacienda la Esmeralda Especial at Vancouver’s Caffè Artigiano: globeandmail.com: Pay up and smell the coffee. [alternative link: The Tyee — Coffee Hits $15 at the Pump.] Kopi luwak pretenders, take notice.

The Panamanian coffee won the 2007 Roasters Guild Cupping competition at the 2007 SCAA annual conference. The coffee was sold in an online auction for a record $130 a pound to a consortium of roasters, including Coffee Klatch Roasting, Groundwork Coffee Company, Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea, The Roasterie, Roastmasters.com, Zoka Coffee Roaster and Tea Co., and 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters. That last British Columbia roaster supplied Caffè Artigiano for exclusive retail distribution of the coffee in Canada.

In unrelated news, thanks to the aforementioned The Roasterie for recently supplying me with a test batch of their Super Tuscan Espresso blend — recently rated a 90 on Kenneth Davids‘ CoffeeReview. It produced some great crema at home at one week after roasting — even if it was a touch too mellow and muted to rank among my favorite espresso profiles.

Canada’s The Globe & Mail reported today that a Panamanian coffee, a little-known Coffea Arabica cultivar called Geisha, received a world record auction price at $50.25 a pound (and this is for unroasted green beans, folks): globeandmail.com : Panamanian specialty coffee smashes world price record. A lot of this year’s Geisha rated at 94.6 pts on a 100-point coffee tasters scale.

Geisha coffee has an Ethiopian heritage — even though most Ethiopians have never heard of it. It was first brought to Panama from Costa Rica in 1963. By several accounts, Panamanian Geisha (and Daniel Price Peterson’s Hacienda Esmeralda in particular) has been regarded as the world’s best coffee for several years running.

For those privileged enough to taste it (I have not), it apparently has an amazing level of character and immense brightness/acidity. It undoubtedly exhibits flavors most coffee drinkers have never tasted before.

Last year’s crop fetched a then-record $20.10 per pound, but now $50.25? And on the heel’s of a $49.75/lb Brazilian Cup of Excellence? How long before we start hearing rumors of the high-end specialty coffee bubble?