Fionn Pooler
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Fionn Pooler
@thepourover.coffee
Writer of The Pourover, a newsletter about coffee and how it connects to the wider world. Subscribe! 👉🏻 thepourover.coffee

Posting about coffee, mainly, but also movies, Arsenal, and other bits and bobs. It's pronounced Fin (he/him) 📍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
Reposted by Fionn Pooler
This whole interview was basically just an excuse for them to talk about Arsenal lol
November 25, 2025 at 12:08 AM
November 22, 2025 at 9:51 PM
SCAP uses the term “geisha”, and that is the spelling it is looking to trademark. However, there remains controversy surrounding this spelling, including the problematic use of Japanese geisha imagery to sell the coffee.

@thejennchen.bsky.social wrote an excellent piece on the subject in 2018:
Stop Calling It “Geisha” Already | Sprudge Coffee
It’s Gesha, not “geisha”.
sprudge.com
November 22, 2025 at 2:11 PM
However, Panama had 8,287 coffee farmers in 2021, the vast majority of whom won't benefit from the branding as it is only available to SCAP members. Annual membership costs $1,000.

What the branding/trademarking serves to do is further concentrate wealth and power within a small group of producers.
Panama’s Specialty Coffee Association Moves To Brand and Trademark ‘Panama Geisha’ as Auction Prices Soar
This year’s Best of Panama coffee auction was the most expensive ever, and was once again dominated by the gesha variety that put Panamanian coffee on the map. Now, the country’s coffee association is...
www.thepourover.coffee
November 22, 2025 at 2:11 PM
According to SCAP, a big reason for branding and trademarking the term are to protect the Panamanian gesha variety, and its value, and defend against counterfeiting.
www.thepourover.coffee/panama-coffe...
November 22, 2025 at 2:11 PM
SCAP's ~89 members stand to benefit most from this branding and trademarking of the term, as auction prices have soared since 1996.

Collectively, the 50 lots involved at this year's BoP brought in some $2.8 million. Forty of those 50 lots, including the winning coffee, were the gesha variety.
November 22, 2025 at 2:11 PM