FrontStreet Coffee's Butterfly | Exceptional Value King, Premium Coffee with Classic Boquete Geisha Flavors

FrontStreet Coffee Butterfly

Country: Panama

Region: Boquete Baru Volcano area

Variety: Catuai, Caturra, Geisha

Processing: Washed

Roast Level: Medium (light-medium roast)

Flavor: Peach, nuts, honey, green tea

Region Introduction

In Boquete, Panama, there is an exceptionally cost-effective coffee bean with a beautiful name — Butterfly.

Panama is a Central American country, bordered by Costa Rica to the west and Colombia to the east. Those familiar with single-origin coffee should know that Panama coffee is renowned in the coffee world for the Geisha variety from Hacienda La Esmeralda. It can be said to be a country that pursues excellence in coffee and produces high-quality coffee beans.

Panama coffee is famous for the Geisha from Hacienda La Esmeralda, and the region where Hacienda La Esmeralda is located is also quite famous; it's the Boquete region in Chiriqui province. Boquete is a town in Chiriqui province, situated near the border between Panama and Costa Rica, close to the famous Baru Volcano. With its beautiful scenery, rich and fertile soil, and climate and soil conditions perfect for producing high-quality coffee.

The Boquete region is also home to many excellent estates. Besides the famous Hacienda La Esmeralda, there are also renowned estates like Elida Estate and Kotowa Duncan Estate, all producing high-quality specialty coffee. This not only benefits from the superior ecological conditions of Panama's Boquete region and the fertile volcanic ash soil of the Baru volcano area.

Another important factor is that the microclimate present in the highlands of Boquete, Panama, is a unique resource for specialty coffee in the Boquete region; Panama's east-to-west environment causes cold air currents to converge above 6,500 feet through the central mountain range, creating multiple microclimates in the Boquete area. Its temperature and rainfall are very suitable for plant growth, so coffee trees planted here grow exceptionally well.

Butterfly has 40%-50% premium Geisha heritage, composed of three varieties: Geisha, Caturra, and Catuai. It's cultivated in the Baru Volcano region of Boquete, growing in volcanic areas at 1,600 meters altitude. The processing plant uses refined washed processing. Panama's special local microclimate results in abundant rainfall in this region, along with large temperature differences between day and night. Combined with the unique volcanic rock soil of the volcanic area and meticulous harvesting and refined processing, this coffee performs exceptionally well in body, acidity, and floral notes.

Local honey production also thrives here, with wild butterflies circling the mountain tops.

Even more surprising is that, on top of its excellent quality, its very affordable price makes this coffee bean incredibly cost-effective. The special feature of this coffee bean is that it contains the Geisha variety, giving this coffee very distinct Geisha flavor characteristics.

Is Butterfly a Blend?

According to research and available information, due to historical reasons at the estate, when pursuing yield in the early days, the Geisha variety was mixed and planted together with Caturra and Catuai variety coffee trees. To facilitate harvesting, coffee farmers later subdivided the three varieties, and during export, they directly mix the three varieties for processing to achieve the desired rich flavor profile.

The three varieties in Butterfly all come from the same origin and same producing region, so it belongs to single-origin coffee!

Like the famous Hacienda La Esmeralda, it's a bean from the Boquete region and contains 40% to 70% Geisha. Its flavor profile also has very authentic Panama Geisha characteristics. Most importantly, the price is very affordable.

Butterfly uses washed processing. Washed beans are known for their clean and clear floral notes. The green bean supplier provided information that the bean's moisture content is only 9.9%, so the roasting plan is to use low temperature for bean entry, then high heat with small air vents to speed up dehydration. After the dehydration phase, open medium air vents and use medium heat to avoid rushing the Maillard reaction time. Drop at the peak of first crack.

The roasting process is as follows:

Due to the special nature of this Butterfly variety, we use medium-light roast to complete the final flavor profile of this bean. We decided to shorten the Maillard reaction time and run a relatively fast curve. Due to the bean's high density and hardness, we start with high heat for dehydration, then reduce heat before first crack to lower temperature rise entering first crack, striving to preserve the loss of small molecule aromatic substances like floral notes, so as not to destroy the characteristic floral notes, white grape, caramel, honey, and black tea aromas unique to Geisha.

Roasting amount: 550g (full load) bean entry.

Bean entry temperature: 200°C

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

The next day, cupping results were as follows:

Wet aroma: Citrus, jasmine hints

Flavor: Peach, grape, caramel, honey

How to Brew

Suitable equipment: Pour-over drip, siphon, French press, cold drip, siphon, coffee bags

Pour-over Record

Summary

For pour-over Panama Butterfly, V60, recommend 15g coffee, water temperature 89-90°C

Water to coffee ratio 1:15, Fuji R440 grind setting 3.5, V60 dripper. First pour 30g water for 28-30s bloom.

Depending on the bloom condition and expansion size, this determines how long to pour with fine water flow. After blooming, the coffee grounds will basically still contain some air.

During the second pour, foam will be produced. The fineness of the foam represents the air content within 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 higher air content, coffee grounds float on the water surface, so use fine, gentle water flow to disturb the coffee grounds and release the air within them.

Pour to 110g water, stop at 140g, wait until the water level in the coffee bed drops to half, then continue pouring. Slowly pour until reaching 225g water, discard the last 5g. Extraction time: 2:00s.

Brewing this way yields higher sweetness and gentle sweet notes. This is for reference only; everyone should make fine adjustments according to their preferred taste.

Flavor: Clean and clear body, white grape and caramel aroma followed by honey notes, charming high mountain black tea fragrance! High sweetness, medium acidity, rounded mouthfeel.

Other brewing methods: Pour-over, cake cup dripper

Grind size: 3.5 (Japan Fuji R440)

Water temperature: 90°C

French press: Recommend grind size 4 / water temperature 90°C

AeroPress: Recommend grind size 3.5, water temperature 87°C

Siphon: Grind size 4, water temperature 90-91°C

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473