Peak season at Esmeralda falls in the spring, which is also when many visitors come hoping to secure lots before they disappear—often quickly. Hacienda La Esmeralda is widely considered one of the most influential producers in modern specialty coffee, credited with introducing the world to the now-iconic Panama Gesha. Among their farms, Cañas Verdes is home to the Nido plots, a tiny collection of high-elevation nano-lots sitting around 2,050 meters above sea level. These parcels produce only a small amount of coffee each year, making each harvest remarkably limited.

In some unique cases, certain Esmeralda Gesha lots are harvested later into late spring or early summer, meaning they aren’t ready for release until even further into the year. This was the case with the coffee we selected. In August, our roaster Ash visited Esmeralda for a blind tasting of several nano-lot selections harvested during this later period. Out of eight different coffees, one stood out immediately and unmistakably. It was later revealed to be from Esmeralda’s Nido lot—a one-hectare parcel known for producing some of the farm’s most delicate and expressive washed Geshas.