How Did Kotowa Estate Shape Panama Coffee Bean Roasting?

Kotowa Estate in Boquete, Panama, traces its start to Canadian immigrant Alexander Duncan MacIntyre, who settled there in 1925, renamed his farm La Carolina and built a small coffee processing plant. Four generations later, the family still runs the Duncan, Don K and Las Brujas farms and competes regularly.

Alexander Duncan MacIntyre was born in 1873 and ran a fruit business with his brother Joseph before entering politics. Joseph bought Finca Carolin in Boquete in 1916; Alexander followed in 1925, married Angela Rosas and cleared land at the foot of Volcán Barú, where volcanic soil and rain from the Atlantic feed slopes up to 2,500 meters.

Kotowa Estate (Kotowa) is a long-standing coffee family in the Boquete region of Panama. Its story began at the end of the 19th century, when Canadian immigrant Alexander Duncan MacIntyre broke ground and planted crops at the foot of Volcán Barú, and it has now been passed down through four generations. The estate owns several well-known farms, including Duncan, Don K, and Las Brujas, and has repeatedly achieved excellent results in competitions. This article sorts out Kotowa's century-long development, the origins of the estate's names, and the historical equipment at its processing plant, and also brings the cupping flavors and pour-over parameters of the sun-dried Caturra from Duncan Estate purchased by Front Street Coffee, for coffee lovers' reference.

Kotowa Estate (Kotowa) has quite a long-standing connection in the coffee world, and the deeds of its first-generation owner can be traced back to the end of the 19th century.

Alexander Duncan MacIntyre was a Canadian born in 1873. In his early years, he ran a fruit business together with his older brother Joseph Albert McIntyre and accumulated initial capital. Later, the two brothers successively entered politics, and Alexander even became the youngest mayor in the history of Port Alberni.

In 1916, his older brother Joseph purchased a farm called Finca Carolin in Boquete, Panama. Although he stayed there only briefly, after returning to Canada he could not forget this land and praised it highly. At the same time, Alexander also read several articles introducing Boquete in the newspaper and was moved by its pristine and charming scenery. With curiosity and longing, he set out on a journey to explore the unknown.

In 1925, Alexander made up his mind to move from North America to settle in Boquete, Panama, and married a local woman, Angela Rosas. Afterward, like other immigrants, he cleared land and farmed there. He renamed the farm La Carolina and also built a small coffee processing plant, thus opening the coffee-growing chapter of the Kotowa family and turning a new page for the four generations who would later take root and flourish here.

Kotowa is located at the foot of Volcán Barú in western Panama, where vegetation is lush, the microclimate is unique, and the volcanic soil is rich in nutrients. Moisture from the Atlantic condenses into rain on slopes as high as 2,500 meters, and the dry season has longer sunshine hours, providing coffee trees with sufficient water and sunlight so they can fully absorb nutrients.

Today, Kotowa Estate has been passed to the third generation and is jointly managed by Mr. Ricardo Koyner and his daughter Victoria.

It is worth mentioning that, in addition to being the estate owner, Mr. Ricardo has another role: he is one of the founders of the Specialty Coffee Association of Panama (SCAP) and served as the first chairman of SCAP.

Starting in the 1990s, many coffee farmers in Panama became aware of the difficulties facing the industry and began seeking a way forward, so they turned to the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) for help. After several years of effort, seven coffee farmer representatives helped establish Panama's own coffee organization in 1996 in order to enhance the overall competitiveness of the country's coffee.

After taking over the estate, Mr. Ricardo realized the importance of brand building, so he officially named his family farm Cafe Kotowa Farms. He not only preserved the green bean processing plant left by his grandfather, but also added equipment such as a coffee bean roaster and opened a local branded coffee shop, all with the goal of allowing products bearing the "Kotowa" mark to be sold directly to broader markets such as Europe and the United States.

Compared with other estates, the equipment in Kotowa's processing plant is powered by flowing water, and the entire machine is driven by wooden gears of various sizes and hand-sewn animal-hide conveyor belts. In an era of scarce resources, this was undoubtedly very advanced equipment. Even more remarkable, this setup is still well preserved today and displayed inside the estate, allowing visiting tourists to personally experience the real history of Panama's coffee industry.

At present, Kotowa has seven farms in total, five of which are familiar to coffee enthusiasts: Finca Kotowa DUNCAN (Duncan Estate), Finca Kotowa Don K (Don K Estate), Finca RIO CRISTAL (Crystal River Estate), Finca Kotowa TRADICIONAL (Traditional Kotowa Estate), and Finca Kotowa LAS BRUJAS (Las Brujas Estate). The other two new farms, Mango and Redondo, do not yet have coffee on the market.

According to information consulted by Front Street Coffee, the word "Kotowa" comes from the language of the local Indigenous Ngäbe people and means "high mountain." Kotowa's logo is modeled on the main force behind coffee cherry picking in Panama, a local Indigenous group called the Gnobe Bugle, also known locally as the "Guaymíes."

To commemorate the first-generation farm owner, Duncan Estate takes its name from Mr. Ricardo's grandfather Alexander; Don K Estate commemorates his father Richard Koyner, with "Don" meaning mister in Spanish;

Las Brujas Estate is named after the stream in front of it, because the flowing water often makes sounds like the "howling" of a witch in the primeval forest; Crystal River Estate, as the name suggests, is also related to a river. It is said that when the water ripples in the sunlight, it shows a crystal-like dazzling gleam, which is how it got this pleasant name.

Because the estates under it have repeatedly achieved excellent results in various competitions, the "Kotowa" brand has long been a household name locally. And when Kotowa coffee is mentioned domestically, many readers, like Front Street Coffee, probably first think of Duncan Estate, which is often active in various competitions, and Las Brujas Estate, which has continued to win awards in recent years.

What Front Street Coffee purchased this time is a sun-dried Caturra from Duncan Estate. Readers who often read our articles know clearly that the ripeness of coffee fruit at harvest has a huge impact on the final quality. In order to present the fullest coffee aroma, Kotowa Estate requires workers to gently strip the coffee cherries when they are wine-red and to carry out post-processing quickly after harvest, avoiding excessive fermentation of the pulp that would produce unpleasant flavors.

Considering that this Caturra highlights a fragrant floral and fruity profile while also emphasizing caramelized sweetness, Front Street Coffee used a medium-light roast level and promptly carried out cupping and tasting.

FrontStreet Coffee: Duncan Estate Caturra Coffee Beans

Country: Panama

Region: Boquete, Duncan Estate

Variety: Caturra

Altitude: 1,650–1,750 meters

Processing Method: Sun-dried

Flavor: Floral, dried fruit, prune, hawthorn, fermented note

This Duncan Estate · Sun-Dried Caturra presents delicate pink florals and rich fruit aromas in the dry fragrance, which first reminded the Front Street Coffee team of fruits such as cranberry, cherry, and grape. After breaking the crust and removing the grounds, the coffee enters the mouth with flavors of ripe prune, grape, and sweet plum, as well as a honey-like mellow aroma. As the temperature drops slightly, the mouthwatering sweet-and-sour notes of hawthorn gradually emerge, accompanied by the charm of fermented fruit wine, adding another layer to the whole cup of coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee Barista Pour-Over Reference

Dripper: V60

Water Temperature: 91°C

Dose: 15 grams

Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15

Grind Size: fine granulated sugar (80% passing through a No. 20 standard sieve)

After roasting, coffee beans need 4–7 days of degassing and resting before entering their best tasting stage. As storage time lengthens, the coffee's aroma will volatilize more quickly, and the flavor and mouthfeel will also decline greatly. To ensure that everyone drinks coffee at its best period, Front Street Coffee guarantees that only beans freshly roasted within 5 days are shipped. Fresh coffee beans are more conducive to extracting the high-quality flavors of Duncan Estate.

For brewing, the FrontStreet Coffee barista habitually uses a three-stage pouring method:

In the first stage, pour 30 grams of water for a 30-second bloom, then pour 95 grams (the electronic scale shows about 125 grams), finishing the pour in about 1 minute. When the water level drops to two-thirds of the coffee bed, pour the remaining 100 grams (the electronic scale shows about 225 grams), finishing the pour in about 1 minute 35 seconds. Dripping is completed at 2'10", then remove the dripper to finish extraction.

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