Panama | Iris Estate | Jamison Savage | Gesha Natural Afterglow 2024 | Signature Series
Upcoming Roast / 80g
$69.00 AUD
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Panama | Iris Estate | Jamison Savage | Gesha Natural Afterglow 2024 | Signature Series
This coffee has run out and is no longer roasted — kept here for archival purposes. Browse current coffees
View the history of our coffee stock status here
Origin and Sourcing
Varietal:
Gesha
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Gesha (or Geisha), originally from Ethiopia, gained fame through Panamanian farms for its outstanding floral and tea-like cup profile. Often described as jasmine, bergamot, and stone fruit in the cup, it commands some of the highest prices in specialty coffee. It has low yields and is challenging to grow but highly sought after for competition and premium markets.
Processing Method:
Natural
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The natural process involves drying whole coffee cherries under the sun, allowing the beans to absorb flavors from the fruit as they dry. This results in a coffee with a heavy body, fruity sweetness, and complex flavors. It’s commonly practiced in Ethiopia and Brazil, where the climate is conducive to sun-drying.
Producer:
Jamison Savage, Sasa Sestic, Elvin Siew
Farm:
Iris Estate
Region / Area:
Volcán
Altitude:
1850–2222 MASL
Harvest Period:
December – June 2024
Sourcing Partner:
Project Origin
Coffee Storage:
Frozen
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For our exotic coffee, we store all the green beans frozen at -22°C in commercial freezers. This locks in freshness, halting enzymatic reactions that degrade flavor. Upon arrival we separate into small 2-3kg vacuum-sealed lots and freeze so that our greens do not age and we can sell these exotic coffees for years to come or until sold out.
Roast Details
Roast Style:
Filter
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Filter roasts are lighter with a shorter development time, designed to highlight clarity, acidity, and fruit-driven complexity — perfect for black coffee and filter methods. These roasts can also be used for espresso, especially if you enjoy brighter, more vibrant shots. Try longer brew ratios or turbo shots to tame acidity and bring out sweetness. Espresso roasts, on the other hand, are developed further to encourage deeper caramelization and Maillard reactions, producing richer, chocolatey, and nutty flavours that shine in milk and offer a fuller-bodied espresso.
We don't usually roast omni (one roast for all brew methods) — in our experience, it tends to be a compromise that's average at both. But occasionally, for larger lots or versatile blends, we may do an omni roast to suit both black and milk drinkers.
Roast Level:
Light
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This is a more accurate reflection of the actual roast level rather than internal & external colour readings and is based off roasting weight loss %. <11% is Nordic ultra-light; 11–13% is Light with balanced acidity and sweetness; 14–16% is Medium for rounded body and caramel; 16–20% is Dark for rich, chocolatey intensity; 20%+ is Starbucks/Italian for bold, smoky depth. Some would say the higher the %, the 'stronger' the coffee.
Roasting Weight Loss:
11.6%
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Coffee roasting weight loss refers to the significant reduction in the mass of green coffee beans during the roasting process, typically ranging from 9% to 25% depending on the roast level. This phenomenon primarily occurs due to the evaporation of moisture, which constitutes about 9–13% of the bean's initial weight.
Internal Agtron:
108
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This is a more accurate reflection of the actual roast colour than external as it's measured after grinding. Internal Agtron reveals how far into the bean the roast has penetrated. Our filter roasts often score over 100, preserving acidity, florals, and the unique vibrant characteristics of each origin and process. Please bear in mind that grind coarseness can affect the internal colour readings, so it is impossible to compare from roaster to roaster using this colour reading.
External Agtron:
78
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This refers to the surface colour of the whole roasted bean, but it's not always a reliable indicator of roast level. Some of our most vibrant and lightly roasted coffees, like our Ecuadorian Sidra, may appear medium-dark (Agtron 50–60) due to their surface colour, yet are in fact light roasts with minimal development time. Surface colour can be affected by the original green colour, bean type, density, and moisture — so don't judge a bean by its exterior.
Agtron Spread:
30
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The Agtron spread is the difference between the colour of whole beans and ground coffee, showing how deeply the coffee is developed. A spread of 0–10 usually indicates very dark, oily roasts typical of Italian-style, which we don't offer at our Roastery. Spreads between 11–20 and 21–30 represent the roast levels you'll find in our espresso coffees, balancing sweetness, acidity, and body. Spreads above 30 make up most of our filter coffee range, featuring very light, bright roasts that highlight fruity, floral, and complex flavours. Within this, spreads from 31–40 offer clarity and vibrancy, while spreads of 40–50 showcase ultra-light roasts with delicate acidity and nuanced character.
Roasted On Machine:
Roest L100 Ultra
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The ROEST L100 Ultra is the most advanced sample roaster in its class, combining the precision of the L100 Plus with next-generation hardware upgrades and new airflow technology. A redesigned, fully perforated drum with reversible rotation introduces a counterflow mode that channels air directly through the bean mass—allowing faster, more efficient heat transfer and enabling lighter roasts or second crack in under 90 seconds. With upgraded 5 GHz Wi-Fi, a faster processor, built-in pressure sensor, and refreshed UI matching the P3000, the Ultra offers better batch consistency (even at 50g), improved airflow calibration, and lower energy consumption. It’s a serious tool for roasters wanting unmatched control, speed, and repeatability—while still fitting neatly on the benchtop.
Taste Profile
Tasting Notes:
Peach, toffee, orange, white floral, fruity, clean, balanced (2024 Afterglow lot)
Cupping Score:
90.0
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Our coffees are scored using the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) protocol by Q Grader–certified cuppers. A score of 80+ qualifies as specialty grade — clean, well-processed, and high quality. 80–84 coffees are more common and often used in blends. 85–87 are brighter, more complex, and better suited for high-quality filter brews. 88–90 are exceptional, and 90+ coffees are ultra-rare, often Cup of Excellence (COE) winners — the best in the world.
Suitable with Milk?
Yes
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Some of our light roasted filter coffees are bursting with bright, fruity acidity — think citrus, berries, or tropical notes. While these flavours shine on their own, they don't always play well with milk. The acidity can clash with milk's natural sweetness and creaminess, sometimes creating sour or chalky flavours.
Decaffeinated?
No
Import into Beanconqueror
Import into xBloom (18g)
Panama | Iris Estate | Jamison Savage | Gesha Natural Afterglow 2024 | Signature Series - When is peak flavour?
Light Roast - Roasted on Roest L100 Ultra
View other coffees in our Iris Estate Collection here
About AFTERGLOW
Afterglow Gesha is a classic natural-processed Gesha from Iris Estate. Whole cherries are dried slowly and methodically on a three-tier raised African bed system, then rested in their dried cherry pods so the beans keep drawing sweetness and layered fruit from the fruit around them. The result is a deep, complex and beautifully sweet cup.
Varietal: Gesha
Process: Natural
Lot: Afterglow
Processing Details
- Cherries are meticulously harvested perfectly ripe, at a reading over 21º Brix.
- Cherries are taken immediately to the drying house and spread out on the top level of the three-tier raised African bed system.
- Cherries are maintained at a specific depth of layering to prevent over-fermentation.
- The drying room controls temperature, heat, humidity and airflow to ensure the cherries have optimal conditions to develop the best flavours.
- Cherries are consistently agitated throughout the day during the first several days, to enable consistent drying and prevent mould.
- After several days on the top level under direct sunlight, cherries are moved to the second level to continue drying for up to 30 days.
- This slower, laborious and methodical drying process is essential, allowing the coffee to absorb layered, natural and complex flavours from the fruit.
- Moisture content is reduced to 10.5-11%.
- Beans are stored in their dried cherry pods, placed in GrainPro bags and kept in the bodega for up to 90 days.
- This "reposo", or rest period, allows the coffee to stabilise and equalise its humidity levels while absorbing more flavour and sweetness from the dried fruit.
- Beans are then hulled and selected for density, size, shape and colour before being lightly vacuum-sealed, ready for export.
About Iris Estate
Iris Estate is a venture initiated by three exceptionally talented coffee professionals, each driven by a distinct vision for the future of coffee. Their shared belief is that specialty coffee should embody the unique terroir in which the beans are grown, rather than merely reflecting processing techniques. This philosophy guides their quest for the perfect cup.
To showcase this dedication to terroir, producer Jamison Savage has planted a variety of coffee cultivars across the Estate at different elevations, all while preserving the natural landscape and forest. He believes that minimal interference with the ecosystem allows the coffee cherries to fully express the natural flavours and characteristics of their environment.
The three main objectives at Iris Estate are: ensuring the coffees truly represent the land from which they originate, enhancing the sustainability of the farm and the well-being of its workers, and bridging the gap between producers and consumers by transparently sharing the processes of cultivation, harvest and production.
About Jamison Savage
Savage Coffee is a project founded by Jamison Savage in Panama's Boquete region. Jamison has established himself as one of the world's most refined coffee producers, with his farm, Finca Deborah, earning top honours in prestigious coffee competitions globally. His coffees are now in such high demand that they are often pre-booked well before the season begins.
For over a decade Jamison has been perfecting his processing techniques. He was among the first to adapt carbonic maceration from the wine industry to coffee, fermenting cherries in a carbon-dioxide-rich environment to build complexity and heighten fresh fruit and floral notes. His coffees are shade-grown, strictly hard bean, and nurtured in nutrient-rich volcanic soils.
About the Gesha Variety
Gesha (also spelled Geisha) is one of the world's most prized coffee varieties. It traces back to Ethiopian landrace coffees collected in the 1930s - the name derives from Ethiopia's Gori Gesha forest - and reached global fame in Panama in 2005, when a Gesha lot won Best of Panama and shattered price records. It is celebrated for its delicate florals, jasmine aromatics and elegant stone fruit.
Coffee in Panama
Though small in coffee production, Panama is a mighty player in coffee quality. In particular, Panama is famous for producing Gesha lots that have fetched prices exceeding $800 per pound. Today its renown as a producer of rare and sought-after varieties positions Panama as a contender for a new kind of coffee-tourism, with the potential to change the way we produce, purchase, consume and talk about specialty coffee on a global scale.
The high value of Gesha has brought out both the best and the worst in the industry. For established producers who receive excellent prices, that money has often been reinvested in their communities and in renovating their farms to be as environmentally sustainable as possible. Unfortunately, the lure of Gesha's value has also led some to bypass traditional land purchasing agreements and illegally deforest areas of national parks. Even so, the blossoming coffee industry in Panama has demonstrated real potential to raise incomes for a wider spectrum of producers and coffee workers.