Coffees of Panama

Panama is a sliver of land connecting two continents, where one can view both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Panama runs east, from Costa Rica, to west, with a center spine of mountains that take a rest at the Panama Canal and then resumes before trailing off into Colombia.

All of Panama's small coffee production takes place on the Pacific side of the mountain chain near Costa Rica, to the west. Its most prized coffees are grown on the western and eastern sides (facing the Pacific) of the dominant 11,000 foot high Volcan Baru where coffee is grown at elevations of 3,500 feet to nearly 6,000 feet.

While the coffee regions have a lengthy dry season, stretching from December to May, rainfall is very plentiful, with yearly averages of 125 to over 150 inches. Certain slopes on the western side of Volcan Baru, above the charming town of Boquete (pronounced Bo-keh'-tay), have a continuous precipitation in the form of mist even during the dry season. Growing conditions can be difficult, with cold winds during the dry season sweeping down from the Atlantic Ocean to the north over the mountain chain and then descending through the coffee fields on the Pacific side, often drying and stripping the leaves of many coffee trees. During the long wet season the rains likewise come from the Atlantic to drop their moisture on the Pacific coffee-growing side, as illustrated by the adjoining photo showing the Valley of Boquete with coffee slopes above. The extreme wet conditions on these slopes can make fungal outbreaks on the coffee plants a real problem.

Despite these difficult growing conditions Panama has continuously produced highly esteemed coffees with classic sweetness and proportion. In the 1990's some of its lower grown coffees were substituted for Hawaiian Kona to which they bore an extreme resemblance in looks and in flavor profile, and sold to many duped US roasters, resulting in federal prosecution of its “importer.”

Panama has held annual coffee competitions since the late 1990's. In 2004 the first prize winner leaped into the imaginations and cupping labs throughout the gourmet coffee world. Price and his son Daniel Peterson (see in the adjoining photo amidst their coffee fields) had offered a lot of a little-known, very rare coffee variety called Gesha, separated from other varieties for the first time, grown on a very high altitude small corner of their La Esmeralda Farm. It was unlike any other coffee in the Americas, pronouncedly so! Today a number of Panamanian farms offer this variety, with La Esmeralda leading the way in every competition since (2007). It has put tiny Panama into the center of the gourmet coffee map, offering a multiplicity of flavor profiles from its many microclimates and diverse Arabica varieties found nowhere else, so far, in the western hemisphere.

La Esmeralda Baru Lot, Boquete, Panama, 2010 Crop!

Next Roast June 6th

Tasting Notes :
A lush fruit basket of peach, blueberry, and gingered lemon candy accented with tropical fruit.

Barú is the name given to the La Esmeralda coffee growing in the Cañas Verdes growing region. It was planted with the Geisha coffee variety just 4 years ago and this is its first year of production. Cañas Verdes lies west of the Boquete Valley, unlike the other sectors, such as the Mario Carnaval we have been offering this past year, which are to the east. It is on the slopes of Volcan Barú and its national park and has a different micro climate than the other area of La Esmeralda: a more distinct dry season with less rain and more sun over the year. The first impression is of lively, powerful aromatic plumes of sweet ripe apricot.

A brief history of La Esmeralda: La Esmeralda has won the Best of Panama Competition every year it has participated since it first appeared in 2004 when it took the international jury by storm. Geisha, an Arabica coffee variety exported from the wild forests of Ethiopia in 1931, was introduced into Central America in the 1950’s. It was a disappointment back then because its production was quite poor and so very little was grown. Then in 2004 Price Peterson and his son Daniel decided to change their coffee entry into the yearly Panama coffee competition, selecting only their Geisha variety instead of the blend of coffee varieties they had been offering up before. Geisha is now the rage.

La Esmeralda deserves great praise not only for the Peterson’s original vision but for how well crafted the coffee is. Quality continues to improve. La Esmeralda’s great sweetness indicates real care in picking strictly ripe fruit.

Farmer: Price and Daniel Peterson
Region: Boquete, South facing slopes of Volcan Barú – Cañas Verdes
Altitude: 4,900 – 5,400
Rainfall: high
Arabica variety: Gesha

Please Note:
1) Orders need to be placed for our limited roast coffees by 7:00 am Eastern Time on the day they are to be roasted.
2) Orders received will not be shipped until the ROAST DATE indicated per the schedule; and
3) Orders received that include REGULAR COFFEE items in addition to scheduled Limited Edition coffees will be shipped on the date that the limited coffee is roasted to minimize your shipping cost.