Panama Volcan Region Finca La Piedra | Geisha Gesha, Catuai Varieties with Honey and Natural Processing

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Panama Volcán Region Piedra de Candela Estate | Geisha/Gesha, Catuai Varieties Honey Process and Sun-Dried Process Flavors?

The fame of Piedra de Candela Estate cannot be mentioned without acknowledging an important figure - Graciano Cruz. The status of Graciano Cruz may already be very familiar to many experts. As a pioneer and promoter of Panama's sun-dried and honey processing methods, he co-founded Ninety Plus with Josseph Brodsky, and later established HiU, promoting his experience to many producing regions and bringing Piedra de Candela Estate to the world stage. The batch of Piedra de Candela Estate we introduced this year was also a special reserve batch personally selected by Graciano Cruz himself. At the coffee exhibition in November, Graciano Cruz also specially appeared to hold a sharing session for friends in Taiwan. Graciano Cruz is committed to experimenting, developing, and promoting honey and sun-dried processing methods that use almost no water, reducing environmental impact. In all the estates he manages, only honey and sun-dried processing are produced, and for many years, no precious water resources have been consumed in coffee post-processing.

Estate Information

Country: Panama

Region: Piedra de Candela

Altitude: 1,750-1,950 meters

Varieties: Geisha, Catuai

Producer: Graciano Cruz

Packaging: 22.7 kg per box, vacuum-packed at origin

In fact, Piedra de Candela Estate is located in such a remote and inaccessible place. Open Google Maps, enter the GPS coordinates of Piedra de Candela Estate, and you can immediately know its location. Slightly zooming out the map, you can discover that Piedra de Candela Estate is not in the well-known Boquete or Volcán regions, nor even in the Santa Clara region where Hartmann Estate and Aurora Estate are located. Instead, it's further north of Aurora Estate, deep in the mountains, right next to the Costa Rican border, in a place called Jurutungo/Piedra de Candela (Candle Stone). In fact, starting from the town of Volcán and continuing west, it takes more than two hours of driving to reach Piedra de Candela Estate.

If we start from the well-known Boquete region, it takes two hours to reach the town of Volcán. Following Route 43, which eventually crosses the border, we wind our way west for about an hour to reach Santa Clara. We're almost at our beloved Hartmann Estate (Finca Hartmann). Here, we leave the scenic Route 43 and turn onto the ridge's industrial road, heading upward. Finally, we can smell a hint of our incredibly arduous bean-seeking journey, because along the way, we first pass another famous estate, FST (Finca Santa Teresa), at an altitude of about 1,500 meters. Continuing deeper, we pass the entrance and lowest point of Aurora Estate, which drives everyone crazy, but this isn't the end yet. We persist with the spirit of going through fire and water, continuing forward until we finally reach Piedra de Candela Estate. In fact, when we stroll through Piedra de Candela Estate, the owner points to the slopes on the west or north side, telling us that beyond them lies Costa Rica.

In terms of climate, we have personally visited Santa Clara and Volcán more than three times, but this is our first time coming this deep into the region to Piedra de Candela Estate. Summarizing our observations, the microclimate environment here is quite different from Boquete. Boquete receives sea breezes from the Atlantic through terrain gaps, and with topographical changes, the microclimate is rich and very humid. Here it's sunny while there it's raining, with a rainbow hanging in the distance. Here it's calm while there the valley winds are howling, or it's foggy with light rain in the morning, sunny at noon, and light rain again in the evening - all common occurrences. However, the entire Volcán region (including Santa Clara or Piedra de Candela to the west) presents a completely different situation. The northern mountain barrier of Volcán is deeper, making it difficult for Atlantic moisture to come whistling in on the wind. Often, it's clear skies for thousands of miles, and once you pass Volcán Barú, you get a completely different feeling. Continuing further west toward the Santa Clara region, the clear skies, scorching sun, and dry air seem to intensify.

When we traveled to serve as international judges for Best Of Panama in May 2016, we revisited estates in this region. In the Boquete region estates, quite a few had already flowered with light rain in May, while the coffee trees in the Santa Clara region were still quite subdued - truly a different scene. However, the suppression of coffee trees is also a natural cycle, often causing coffee trees to concentrate more in flowering and fruiting. Perhaps this is the reason why we vaguely feel that coffee from the Santa Clara region seems to have a trend toward higher sweetness. Let us continue to observe and verify.

In addition to the sun-dried batches loved by everyone, Graciano Cruz's other signature - honey processing - is even more of a treasure not to be missed. The black honey processing brings flavors closer to sun-dried methods. Graciano Cruz's honey processing is a classic work worthy of careful savoring and repeated appreciation, especially the Geisha/Gesha honey processing batches. While using honey processing to enhance the richness and complexity of coffee's texture, it clearly expresses the charming and delicate aspects that are the original intention of Geisha/Gesha.

The microclimate environment here is quite different from Boquete. Boquete receives sea breezes from the Atlantic through terrain gaps, and with topographical changes, the microclimate is rich and very humid. Here it's sunny while there it's raining, with a rainbow hanging in the distance. Here it's calm while there the valley winds are howling, or it's foggy with light rain in the morning, sunny at noon, and light rain again in the evening - all common occurrences. However, the entire Volcán region (including Santa Clara or Piedra de Candela to the west) presents a completely different situation. The northern mountain barrier of Volcán is deeper, making it difficult for Atlantic moisture to come whistling in on the wind. Often, it's clear skies for thousands of miles, and once you pass Volcán Barú, you get a completely different feeling. Continuing further west toward the Santa Clara region, the clear skies, scorching sun, and dry air seem to intensify.

In the Boquete region estates, quite a few had already flowered with light rain in May, while the coffee trees in the Santa Clara region were still quite subdued - truly a different scene. However, the suppression of coffee trees is also a natural cycle, often causing coffee trees to concentrate more in flowering and fruiting, perhaps the reason for the trend toward higher sweetness.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommended Brewing:

Dripper: Hario V60

Water Temperature: 90°C

Grind Size: Fuji Royal grinder setting 3.5

Brewing Method: Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, 15g coffee grounds. First infusion with 25g water, bloom for 25 seconds. Second infusion to 120g, then stop pouring. Wait until the water level in the coffee bed drops to half, then continue pouring slowly until reaching 225g. Extraction time around 2:00.

Analysis: Using a three-stage brewing method to clearly define the front, middle, and back-end flavors of the coffee. Because the V60 has many ribs and faster drainage, stopping the pour can extend the extraction time.

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