What role does the Panama coffee association play in BoP?
Panama is a small country with an outsized place in specialty coffee. The Specialty Coffee Association of Panama runs the BoP competition, which puts Panamanian lots in front of international buyers and judges. Chiriqui Province holds the three well-known growing regions, and the country's coffee history runs from a Spanish colonial past through independence in 1821 and again in 1903.
Kotowa Estate illustrates the family side of the industry, with the Duncan and Don K plots showing measurable flavor differences. Panamanian Geisha drew wide attention after strong auction results, including the 2017 BoP lot that was cupped as a natural Geisha. For buyers and baristas, the coffee association's grading and auction work is the main reference point.
Although Panama is a small country, it occupies a pivotal position in the world of specialty coffee. This article begins with an overview of Panama, then outlines its coffee-growing history, the three renowned producing regions of Chiriqui Province, its main varieties and processing methods, and highlights the Specialty Coffee Association of Panama (SCAP) and the BoP competition. It also details the family heritage of Kotowa Estate, the flavor differences between the Duncan and Don K plots, and the cupping performance of the 2017 BoP auction lot natural Geisha. Front Street Coffee recommends paying attention to the charm of Geisha from this producing region.
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About BoP and the Specialty Coffee Association of Panama
On June 12, 2017, China and Panama established diplomatic relations.
Basic Information
Chinese Name: Republic of Panama
English: The Republic of Panama
Abbreviation: Panama
Continent: North America
Country Code: PAN
Area: 75,517 square kilometers
Population: 3.93 million (2015)
Official Language: Spanish
Currency: US Dollar, Balboa
Capital: Panama City
GDP: 55.19 billion USD (2016)
GDP per capita: 13,600 USD (2016)
History
In 1501 it became a Spanish colony. It gained independence in 1821 and subsequently joined Gran Colombia. In 1831, Gran Colombia dissolved, and Panama became a province of the Republic of New Granada (later Colombia). It gained independence again in 1903.
Coffee-Producing Country Introduction: Panama
Location
Located between 7° and 10° north latitude and 77° to 83° west longitude. It sits on the Isthmus of Panama in Central America, bordering Colombia to the east, the Pacific Ocean to the south, Costa Rica to the west, and the Caribbean Sea to the north. The country is S-shaped, connecting North America and South America. The Panama Canal runs north to south, linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, earning it the reputation of "Bridge of the World."
Economy
The Panama Canal Zone, the regional financial center, the Colon Free Trade Zone, and tourism form the four pillars of the economy. The Panama Canal handles 5% of global trade cargo, and the Colon Free Trade Zone is the second-largest free trade zone in the world after Hong Kong.
Historical Ties with China
In 1854, the first group of Chinese arrived in Panama to participate in railway construction. According to statistics, there are currently about 200,000 Chinese and overseas Chinese in Panama, making it one of the largest Chinese communities in Latin America.
Coffee-Producing Country Introduction: Panama
Terrain
Predominantly mountainous, with the highest peak being Baru Volcano at 3,475 meters above sea level.
Climate
Close to the equator, it has a tropical maritime climate with an average annual temperature of 23-27°C. There are dry and wet seasons, with the rainy season concentrated from May to December. Average annual rainfall is 1,500-2,500mm.
Coffee-Producing Country Introduction: Panama
Chiriqui Province
Coffee-Producing Country Introduction: Panama Boquete Coffee-Producing Country Introduction: Panama Renacimiento
Coffee History
In the early 19th century, a retired British naval captain was the first to plant coffee in the Boquete Valley. Afterwards, colonists introduced coffee to the western highlands.
Main Producing Regions
Chiriqui Province is Panama's most important coffee-producing region. Boquete, Volcan, and Renacimiento are the three most renowned origins.
(Related blog post: Panama Specialty Coffee Producing Regions: Chiriqui Boquete)
Harvest Season
December to March
Processing Methods
Multiple methods coexist. Washed, dry, honey.
Coffee-Producing Country Introduction: Panama
Main Varieties
Geisha, Catuai, Caturra, Mundo Novo, Typica, Bourbon, Pacamara, Maragogype
Geisha, Catuai, Caturra, Mundo Novo, Typica, Bourbon, Pacamara, Maragogype
Coffee Overview
A representative coffee-producing country that wins by quality. In nearly two decades, it has risen to become an important producing region in the specialty coffee world. It is especially famous for the Geisha variety.
On the question of how to produce high-quality coffee, in addition to suitable natural conditions, highly capable coffee growers are an important factor.
Panama's earliest coffee growers were mostly Western immigrants, many of whom were engineers and managers who had once worked on the Panama Canal. Their descendants mostly have American university educations and possess ample knowledge reserves. What is especially important is that most growers have the ability to cup and grade coffee, and can even provide roasting suggestions to roasters. They have sufficient information reserves to negotiate prices with buyers.
Coffee-Producing Country Introduction: Panama
Coffee Competitions
Panama has not joined the COE competition. Instead, it holds its own national cupping competition called "Best of Panama," abbreviated as BoP. BoP is organized by the Specialty Coffee Association of Panama (SCAP) and has been held 21 times so far. Outstanding competition beans participate in online auctions, occasionally fetching high prices.
In 2013, a lot from a well-known estate once set a high price of 230 USD per pound.
2017 Best of Panama Auction: Panama Kotowa Estate Duncan Plot Natural Geisha Coffee Lot
The Kotowa family has 5 estates. The two most famous estates under its banner are Duncan and Don K. These two estates are actually located on opposite sides of a mountain ridge, and the microclimates between them differ greatly, which is reflected in the coffee flavor: Duncan is a cultivated farm, and her coffee flavor presents multiple fruits, with obvious floral aromas and delicate spicy sweetness.
The estate founder, McIntyre, was originally Canadian. He held a very prominent political position in his hometown, but had a strong desire to change his busy and fragmented life. One day in 1918, he read a report about Boquete, Panama, in Central America. The report detailed a mysterious volcanic slope with a hidden retreat that was cool all year round. His curiosity drove him to Boquete. Unexpectedly, he fell in love with the local people of Boquete and the dreamlike valley there, so McIntyre decided to settle here. To this day, four generations of the Alexander family have continued to grow coffee here in a traditional way and take pride in their carefully cultivated specialty coffee. Ricardo Koyner is the current estate manager.
Kotowa Estate is located in the Boquete producing region of Panama, at an altitude of 1,700-1,850 meters. The estate has a strong social and environmental awareness. In order to ensure a clean, safe, and sustainable environment, the estate uses traditional concepts but the latest technology to grow and process coffee. It has therefore specially preserved 500 hectares of virgin forest as a wildlife reserve. The estate mainly has five cultivation areas: Finca Kotowa Duncan, Finca Kotowa Don K, Finca Kotowa Rio Cristal, Finca Kotowa Tradicional, and Las Brujas. Among them, a cultivation area added in the past two years, Finca Kotowa Las Brujas, has also performed very well in recent Best of Panama competitions. During the harvest season, Kotowa Estate chooses to pick fully red coffee cherries and process them with clear, cool local mountain spring water. Under the concept of environmental protection, they use only half a liter of water per pound of coffee, saving about 10 to 20 liters compared with other processing plants. The processed pulp and wastewater are also reused as organic fertilizer. Finally, under the high, cold, dry climate at 1,700 meters, the coffee is slowly and naturally dried.
Behind the legends of Kotowa Don K, Duncan, and Las Brujas, there is a true coffee person—Ricardo Koyner. He inherited the coffee farm established in 1917 by his mother's grandfather, Alexander Duncan, as well as the washed processing plant built by his maternal grandfather, Don K. However, at that time Panamanian coffee was still unknown. Not only was the Geisha coffee tree still waiting to be discovered by people, but many excellent-quality beans were also innocently involved in the most famous coffee fraud case in history in the 1990s in the United States after being disguised as Hawaiian Kona. At the same time, New York coffee futures prices fell year after year after the end of the Cold War. At that time, the prospects for running a coffee farm were actually very bleak. However, Ricardo, who holds a university degree in economics, knew well that only by producing the highest-quality green beans could Kotowa Estate escape the shackles of futures prices and have a foundation for sustainable operation and even greater development. So he embarked on the path of specialty coffee.
At that time, Ricardo and a group of other outstanding Panamanian coffee estate owners, such as Wilford of Elida Estate, Francisco of Don Pachi Estate, and Daniel and Rachel of Esmeralda Estate, first jointly initiated the Specialty Coffee Association of Panama (SCAP), sharing and learning planting and processing techniques with one another, and then held the BOP competition. In just a few years, it attracted the attention of many specialty coffee lovers, and later the dazzling Geisha coffee appeared and became famous worldwide.
This was not at all luck, but precisely the result of quiet effort and open-minded sharing and learning. As a core and leading coffee farm, Kotowa also quickly received Geisha seeds gifted by Esmeralda and joined the ranks of Geisha coffee production and technical improvement. For example, the natural processing method, which was not favored by SCAA cupping experts, became another dazzling star in just a few years. To this day, Ricardo not only studies in depth the reasons behind the many forms of Geisha, but also cooperates with UC Davis, a top agricultural research center in the United States, to explore more secrets about the wonderful taste of Geisha.
2017 Best of Panama Auction: Panama Kotowa Estate Duncan Plot Natural Geisha Coffee Lot
Peach juice, lychee sensation, delicate sweet aroma
Origin: Western Side of Boquete, El Salto Plateau, Panama
Variety: Geisha
Processing Plant: Finca Kotowa Duncan
Altitude: 1,700 meters
Processing Method: Natural
Lot: 2017BOP-GN-13
Harvest and Processing Time: 2016/2017
Roast Level: Light
Front Street Coffee Recommendation: This 2017 BoP auction lot natural Geisha comes from the Duncan plot of Kotowa Estate and presents peach juice, a lychee sensation, and a delicate sweet aroma. It is an excellent choice for experiencing top-tier Panamanian Geisha.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
