Panama Butterfly coffee beans come from the Boquete Baru Volcano region and are composed of three varieties: Geisha, Caturra, and Catuai. After washed processing, they present clean flavors of peach, nuts, honey, and green tea. This bean contains more than 50% Geisha genetics, yet is known for its approachable price, combining the classic character of Panama Geisha with high cost-effectiveness. Front Street Coffee uses a medium-light roast to preserve the floral notes and fruity acidity, and gives a V60 pour-over recommendation: 15g grounds, 89-90°C water temperature, 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, extraction time about 2 minutes, ultimately presenting the captivating aroma of white grape, caramel, honey, and high-mountain black tea.

Front Street Coffee: Panama Butterfly Coffee Beans

Country: Panama

[Region]: Boquete Baru Volcano region

[Varieties]: Catuai, Caturra, Geisha

[Processing Method]: Washed

[Roast Level]: Medium (medium-light roast)

Flavor: Peach, nuts, honey, green tea

Region Introduction

In the Boquete region of Panama, there is a coffee bean with excellent cost-effectiveness and a very elegant name: Panama Butterfly Coffee. Panama is located in Central America, bordered by Costa Rica to the west and Colombia to the east. Most people familiar with single-origin coffee know that Panama coffee's fame in the specialty coffee world is mainly due to Hacienda La Esmeralda's Geisha. It can be said that this is a country that constantly pursues coffee quality and produces excellent coffee.

Panama coffee is famous for Hacienda La Esmeralda's Geisha, and the region where Hacienda La Esmeralda is located is equally renowned: the Boquete region in Chiriqui Province. In fact, Boquete is a town in Chiriqui Province, located near the border between Panama and Costa Rica, adjacent to the famous Baru Volcano. With beautiful scenery, fertile soil, and climate and soil conditions highly suitable for growing quality coffee.

The Boquete region is also home to many excellent estates. In addition to Hacienda La Esmeralda, there are also Elida Estate, Kotowa Duncan Estate, and others, all well-known estates producing specialty coffee. This is due not only to the superior ecological conditions of Panama's Boquete region, but also to the fertile volcanic ash soil of the Baru Volcano.

Another important factor is the microclimate of the Boquete highlands, which is a unique and important resource for specialty coffee in the Boquete region. Panama's east-to-west layout causes cold air currents to converge above 6,500 feet along the central mountain range, creating multiple microclimates in the Boquete area that make temperature and rainfall very suitable for plant growth. As a result, the coffee trees here grow very well.

Panama Butterfly coffee beans have more than 50% Geisha genetics and are composed of three varieties: Geisha, Caturra, and Catuai. They are planted in the Baru Volcano region of Boquete, growing at an altitude of 1,600 meters in the volcanic area. The processing station uses meticulous washed processing. The special microclimate of Panama results in abundant rainfall in this area, large temperature differences between day and night, and combined with the unique volcanic rock soil of the volcanic region, as well as careful harvesting and meticulous processing, this coffee has quite outstanding performance in body, acidity, and floral notes.

(Bees are also kept locally, and wild butterflies circle the hills)

What is even more pleasantly surprising is that on top of its excellent quality, this coffee bean is very affordably priced with extremely high cost-effectiveness. Its special feature is that it contains the Geisha variety, giving this coffee very obvious Geisha flavors.

Is Butterfly a blend?

After researching, Front Street found that due to historical reasons, the estate at the time, in pursuit of yield, planted the early Geisha variety mixed together with Caturra and Catuai coffee trees. For ease of harvesting, the coffee farmers later separated the three varieties, and at export they directly mixed the three varieties together to achieve the desired rich flavor.

All three varieties in Butterfly come from the same origin and the same region, so it is a single-origin coffee!

Like the famous Hacienda La Esmeralda, it is a bean from the Boquete region, and it contains 40% to 70% Geisha, with flavors that have an authentic Panama Geisha character. Most importantly, the price is very approachable.

Butterfly is always washed processed, and the cleanliness and clear floral notes of washed beans are its characteristics. The information provided by the green bean supplier is that the moisture content is only 9.9%, so the roasting plan is to charge at low temperature, then use high heat and a small airflow damper to speed up dehydration. After the dehydration phase ends, open the airflow damper to medium and use medium heat, so that the Maillard reaction time is not too rushed. Drop the beans at the densest stage of first crack.

The roasting process is as follows:

Due to the special varietal nature of this [Butterfly], we use a medium-light roast to finalize the flavor direction of this bean, deciding to use a relatively fast approach to shorten the Maillard reaction time and run a faster curve. Because the beans are dense and hard, we start with high heat for dehydration, then reduce heat before first crack to lower the rate of temperature rise as it enters first crack, preserving as much as possible the floral and other small-molecule aromatic compounds, preventing their loss, so as not to destroy the Geisha's characteristic floral notes, white grape, caramel, honey, and black tea aromas.

Charge with 550g (full capacity).

Charge temperature: 200°C

First crack: 184.5°C ± 0.5°C @ 8:31 ± 3 seconds

The next day, the [cupping] results are as follows:

Wet aroma: Citrus, jasmine hints

Flavor: Peach, grape, caramel, honey

[How to Brew]

Suitable equipment: Pour-over dripper, siphon, French press, cold drip, siphon, drip bag

[Pour-over Record]

[Summary]

Pour-over Panama Butterfly, V60, recommended 15g grounds, 89-90°C water temperature

Coffee-to-water ratio 1:15, EK43s grinder setting 10, V60 dripper.

First pour: 30g water for 28-30s bloom. Depending on the bloom condition and expansion size, this will determine how long to pour with a fine stream. After blooming, the coffee grounds will basically still contain some air.

During the second pour, foam will be produced. The coarseness of the foam represents the air content in the coffee grounds. The air content in the coffee grounds determines whether the coffee grounds float on the water surface or settle at the bottom of the filter. With more air content, the coffee grounds float on the water surface, so a fine, gentle stream is needed to disturb the coffee grounds and allow the air inside to escape.

Pour to 110g, stop at 140g, wait for the water level in the coffee bed to drop halfway before pouring again, slowly pour until 225g, discard the last 5g, extraction time 2:00s. Front Street believes this extraction method can bring out Butterfly's higher sweetness and soft fruity acidity. You can also make minor adjustments according to your preferred taste.

Flavor: Clean and transparent body, white grape and caramel aromas followed by honey, with a captivating high-mountain black tea aroma! High sweetness, medium acidity, rounded mouthfeel.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.