Why Does Panama Boquete Produce Notable Geisha Coffee?
Panama is a small country, but Boquete and nearby areas give it a firm place on the specialty coffee map through Panamanian geisha coffee. Front Street Coffee has long roasted Panamanian Geisha and treats each expensive batch with care, adjusting roast profiles to protect the green bean quality before release.
Guided by Panama's geography, climate, and cultivation methods, the terroir of the Boquete producing region shapes the cup. The article also covers Hacienda La Esmeralda, Elida Estate, and Hartmann Estate, their origin stories, bean varieties, and processing methods, along with Front Street's brewing suggestions and flavor descriptions.
Although Panama is a small country, it occupies an extremely important place on the world specialty coffee map thanks to the Geisha coffee produced in regions such as Boquete. Front Street Coffee has long roasted Panamanian Geisha, and is well aware of both the excellence of its green bean quality and its high price, so it is especially meticulous in roasting. This article will start with Panama's geography, climate and cultivation methods, sort out the terroir conditions of the Boquete producing region, and introduce one by one the origin stories, representative bean varieties and processing methods of Hacienda La Esmeralda, Elida Estate and Hartmann Estate, along with Front Street Coffee's brewing suggestions and flavor descriptions, to help coffee lovers gain a more comprehensive understanding of the charm of Panamanian coffee.
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Panamanian Geisha coffee has long been renowned worldwide for its scarce production and outstanding quality. Front Street is also especially fond of roasting Panamanian Geisha, because the beans themselves are of excellent quality and save a great deal of adjustment work during roasting; on the other hand, Geisha green beans are expensive, so Front Street is extremely cautious with every batch. Fortunately, Front Street's roasters are highly experienced, and generally draw up three to five roasting plans based on the characteristics of the beans, then select the best-performing profile through cupping, and finally present it to customers. Many customers who taste Geisha at Front Street praise its flavor highly, and also ask: why can the green bean quality of Panamanian Geisha be so outstanding? In this article, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) takes this question, which everyone cares about most, as its focus and leads you into this famous coffee country located in Central and South America.
Panama Coffee Producing Regions
Panama is located in the central part of the American continent, with a land area of 75,517 square kilometers. Its territory is shaped like an "S", connecting North America and South America. It borders Colombia to the east, faces the Pacific Ocean to the south, is adjacent to Costa Rica to the west, and has the Caribbean Sea to the north. The country's high-quality coffee is mostly grown in the western zone.
In terms of climate, Panama is close to the equator and has a tropical maritime climate, humid during the day and cool at night, with an average annual temperature between 23 and 27 degrees. The year is divided into a dry season and a rainy season, with average annual rainfall of about 1,500 to 2,500 millimeters. The coffee produced in the Boquete area of Chiriqui Province is the most famous, while Volcan, Santa Clara, Candela and other places are also quite well known. Other producing areas include David, Remacimeinto, Bugaba and Tole. Only coffee grown at an altitude between 1,300 and 1,500 meters qualifies as special coffee.
Plantations in the Boquete region of Panama are roughly divided into three forms: sun plantations, full-shade plantations and semi-shade plantations. Those with more than 50 shade trees per hectare are full-shade plantations; those with 25 to 50 are classified as semi-shade plantations; and those with fewer than 25 are called sun plantations. So, on two adjacent plots with the same growing conditions, what difference does shade versus no shade actually bring to coffee?
Shade growing can slow down the ripening rhythm of the coffee fruit and allow the coffee cherries to accumulate more flavor substances. Therefore, shade itself means higher costs and lower yields, but its coffee flavor is superior to that of a semi-shade plantation under the same conditions. At present, most plantations in Colombia use a model in which coffee trees are interplanted with banana trees, because as Arabica varieties continue to be bred shorter, banana trees grow up to provide exactly the right shade.
The coffee beans of Panama's various estates are mostly specialty Arabica beans selected by hand, and every batch can be traced back to its source. Being able to determine which estate and which plot the beans came from, or which cooperative or which farmer, is precisely the pursuit of that taste of place. Only by personally traveling to the coffee origin and walking into the coffee estate is it possible to figure out where that trace of coffee depth, alluring flavor and ever-changing aroma actually comes from — whether it is microclimate, variety, processing method, or the coffee farmer's secret kept from outsiders.
Hacienda La Esmeralda
Panama's Hacienda La Esmeralda (La Esmeralda) is located on one side of the Baru volcano, so the coffee beans produced in this area were mostly named after Baru Mountain before they became famous. The surroundings of Boquete are beautiful, with many leisure hotels and vacation estates, even built along the important Rio Caldera. Hacienda La Esmeralda is located in Jaramillo on the right side of the river, and later extended to the higher-altitude Canas Verdes area on the left side of the river to grow coffee. All of this is thanks to Rudolph Peterson's decision to buy this property back then.
When speaking of Hacienda La Esmeralda, one cannot fail to mention the "Red Label", "Green Label" and "Blue Label" grades of Geisha coffee beans. Although Hacienda La Esmeralda's Geisha coffee has limited production, its quality enjoys a reputation as the "best in the world", and after winning the BOP in 2004 it一跃 became a star estate. Hacienda La Esmeralda's four well-known coffee brands include: Esmeralda Special, Geisha, Diamond Mountain grows, and Palmyra.
Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Hacienda La Esmeralda Geisha Red Label
Region: Boquete, Panama
Estate: Hacienda La Esmeralda, Mario plot
Altitude: 1700+m
Variety: Geisha
Processing method: Natural process
Red Label Geisha, namely Esmeralda Special, is Hacienda La Esmeralda's top product. It uses Geisha beans grown at an altitude of 1,600-1,800 meters, with a cupping score above 90, from the two producing areas of Jaramillo and Canas Verdes. In Hacienda La Esmeralda's own independent auction, only the Geisha lots put up for bidding from the divided plots count as auction Red Label. However, there are also non-auction Red Labels on the market, which are in fact Geisha selected from the same plots that did not participate in the auction and flowed into the market; the variety and quality are consistent, and the only difference is the selling price.
Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Brewing Suggestions
Dripper: Hario V60
Water temperature: 90℃
Dose: 15 grams
Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15
Grind size: medium-fine grind (75% passing a No. 20 standard sieve)
Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Brewing Method
Staged extraction
Use 30 grams of water for a 30-second bloom, then pour in a small stream in circles until 125 grams for the first stage. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring until 225 grams and stop. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, remove the dripper. (Time from the start of the bloom) The extraction time is 2'00".
Flavor Description
It has bright aromas of rose and citrus, along with brown rice, berries, apricot, mixed fruits and honey, a thick juicy body, rich layers of flavor, and obvious sweetness.
Elida Estate
The history of this estate can be traced back to 1918. The farm was originally the property of the Lamastus family, and the name Elida comes from the wife of the then farm owner Robert Louis Lamastus. Elida Estate is located in the Boquete producing region, at an altitude that is almost the highest in all of Panama, and nearly half of its area lies within a national protected park, making it a rare ultra-high-altitude estate in Central America. Elida Estate has a total area of 65 hectares, of which more than half lies within Baru Volcano National Park. Thirty hectares of the estate are planted with coffee trees, while the remaining 35 hectares are primary forest. Coffee is grown at altitudes from 1,670 meters to 1,850 meters, making it one of the two highest coffee estates in Panama (the other with an equivalent altitude should be Carmen Estate in the Volcan Valley).
Baru, with its rugged mountain terrain, is a young volcano over 3,400 meters above sea level and is an active volcano. Because the temperature difference between day and night is too great, the coffee at Elida Estate needs five years of careful care after sowing before it welcomes its first harvest, a rather long waiting period (coffee in ordinary producing areas usually takes only three years). Although the plants grow slowly, this greatly helps the development of coffee flavor. After entering the harvest period, affected by temperature, the ripening period of the coffee often exceeds one month. Once a force majeure such as a hurricane or heavy rain occurs just before ripening, even though it is known that this will cause major losses, because the beans do not meet the estate's harvest standards, the estate refuses to harvest early in its insistence on quality, resulting in a sharp drop in yield! The risk is in fact much greater than that of other lower-altitude estates.
Elida Estate mainly grows three varieties: Catuai, Typica and Geisha. The estate's processing plant is halfway up the mountain, so after picking, the coffee can be sent to the factory for processing immediately, ensuring that the quality of the coffee cherries is not affected. Of course, Elida's environment is also suitable for growing other high-quality temperate crops, especially tree tomatoes and some uncommon high-altitude fruits. Interestingly, the flavors of these fruits can often also be found in Elida's coffee.
In addition to its exceptional ultra-high altitude and microclimate, the estate owner Mr. Wilford has also put considerable effort into harvesting and processing. In order to achieve the highest standards, Elida Estate's coffee only allows hand-picking of the ripest coffee cherries (Ripe on Pinton). The fruit has a high degree of ripeness, and the pectin naturally has a high sugar content, which is also the foundation for producing Elida's high-quality flavor.
Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Elida Estate Typica
Region: Boquete, Panama
Estate: Elida Estate
Altitude: 1,850 meters
Variety: Typica
Processing method: Natural process
In addition to being extremely strict about coffee cultivation and processing, estate owner Mr. Wilford is also more rigorous than others in the industry when it comes to the "purification" of green beans after processing. Taking Panama Elida as an example, after processing the green beans need more than five months of low-temperature resting to remove greenness, which allows the coffee's flavor to develop in a more balanced and fuller way. (Low-temperature resting is a concept of green bean purification strongly promoted by coffee master George Howell starting in 2006. We have found that although green beans in subtropical places certainly need to be kept at low temperature, different processing methods and altitudes will change the duration of low-temperature resting. In the case of Panama Elida, five months of low-temperature resting is optimal.)
Cupping expert Ken Davids gave Elida Estate's coffee a high score of 93 in 2012! Elida is also a frequent presence on the competition bean lists of contestants from various countries in the World Barista Championship (WBC). In the finals of Taiwan's TBC (Taiwan Barista Championship) and China's CBC (China Barista Championship), contestants can often also be seen using single-origin Elida to make SOE espresso.
Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Brewing Suggestions
Dripper: Hario V60
Water temperature: 91℃
Dose: 15 grams
Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15
Grind size: medium-fine grind (80% passing a No. 20 standard sieve)
Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Brewing Method
Staged extraction
Use 30 grams of water for a 30-second bloom, then pour in a small stream in circles until 125 grams for the first stage. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring until 225 grams and stop. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, remove the dripper. (Time from the start of the bloom) The extraction time is 2'00".
Flavor Description
On the palate one can clearly feel the flavors of peach, raisins and orange, then the sweetness of sugarcane and muskmelon gradually emerges, with the finish carrying flavors of grapefruit and green tea.
Hartmann Estate
At present, Hartmann Estate continues to be operated by the third generation of the family. Mr. Ratibor Hartmann and his four siblings each take on different roles on the estate. They live together on the estate and make a living by growing coffee.
The Hartmann family also manages and processes coffee for many estates in Panama. For example, Finca La Mula, a frequent winner at Best of Panama, and 90+'s estate in Panama are both under the management of the Hartmann family. Although the estate is very low-key and is rarely seen at Best Of Panama, their coffee is among the finest in Panama. The Hartmann family deserves much of the credit for Panama coffee's fame today.
Catuai is a hybrid variety of Mundo Novo and Caturra, with relatively good resistance to natural disasters, especially wind and rain. It inherits the advantage of Caturra's low tree height and corrects the shortcomings of Mundo Novo; another advantage is that the fruit is firmly attached and not easily knocked off by strong winds, making up for the fragility of Arabica cherries. However, its overall flavor expression is more monotonous than Caturra, and also more monotonous than Mundo Novo and lacking in body, which is its greatest regret.
Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Hartmann Estate Wine Process
Region: Volcan, Panama
Estate: Hartmann Estate
Altitude: 1250-1700m
Variety: Catuai
Processing method: Wine process
First of all, the wine process is not soaking coffee in red wine, nor is it fermenting it in red wine barrels. The wine process draws on the winemaking techniques of wine, placing whole uncrushed bunches of grapes together with their stems into a tank filled with carbon dioxide (an oxygen-free environment). The grape berries break and release juice, separating the grape juice from the skins, after which yeast is added for fermentation. This process can use neutral grape varieties to obtain aromatic wines, and the resulting wine is softer, rich in fruity aroma, and carries obvious aromas of cherry wine, banana, bubblegum and cinnamon. Therefore, the wine process is also called carbonic maceration.
In wine-process fermentation, first the coffee cherries are placed in an airtight container with a one-way exhaust valve, which is very similar to the anaerobic method. Because the skin of the coffee cherries remains intact, fermentation may take several days or several weeks. Different pressures in the tank will produce different sugars and pectin for microorganisms to break down. The wine process can ensure the quality of the coffee beans by controlling pH, and even temperature and humidity, while the airtight fermentation also makes it harder for aromatic substances to volatilize.
Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Brewing Sharing
In order to highlight this wine-process bean from Hartmann, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) conducted cupping and then sought out a relatively suitable brewing recipe.
First, the dripper chosen was Hario's resin V60. As a traditional pour-over dripper, the V60 can brew out very good flavor, and the resin material has little effect on water temperature. A 1:16 coffee-to-water ratio was used. Widening the coffee-to-water ratio makes the coffee's flavor easier to release. As the saying goes, a strong floral fragrance is not as appealing as a faint one.
The grind size is slightly coarser than normal pour-over grinding, using 70% passing a No. 20 standard sieve. The coarser grind is to avoid clogging the drainage hole with coffee powder in the final stage and to avoid over-extraction.
The water temperature used is 93℃. A higher water temperature makes it easier to extract flavor substances.
Brewing Steps
First, pour in 15g of coffee powder, then in the first stage pour in 40g of water for a 30-second bloom. Pouring more than twice the amount of water for the bloom can make the acidity of the whole cup brighter.
In the second stage, pour in 140g of water. The circular pouring motion should be elegant (slow), with the water stream at a height of about 5cm. This stage of pouring raises the coffee water level to half the height of the short ribs.
When the water level drops to the bottom of the short ribs, continue pouring in 60g, and stop pouring at about 1 minute 32 seconds. After all the coffee liquid in the dripper has flowed into the server, remove the dripper and end the extraction. The total time is 2 minutes.
Flavor Description
This brewing method smells of red wine fermentation aroma. On the palate there is the acidity of citrus and kiwi, with very bright acidity. The middle section has the sweetness of brown sugar, accompanied by the acidity and aroma of wine.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
