Panama Geisha Coffee Variety Introduction and Why Panama Geisha Coffee Beans Are So Expensive

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The Rise of Panama Coffee

For a long time, Panama coffee beans were underestimated and largely overlooked. This changed dramatically in recent years with the annual international cupping competition "Best of Panama" and the emergence of Hacienda La Esmeralda. This cupping competition has attracted global attention not only for the coffee's inherent appeal but also for its astonishing astronomical prices. Some small farms produce Geisha varieties, captivating global coffee enthusiasts with their unique floral aromas. Panama coffee beans exhibit strong floral fragrances and clean fruit notes, with cupping quality that far exceeds other coffees, delivering impressive flavors and consistent quality.

Small farms in the Chirqui district's Boquete region truly produce distinctive coffee cherries. During each harvest season, farms employ local N'gbe Indians indigenous people, complying with Central American labor laws and providing reasonable wage standards.

The Evolution of Specialty Coffee

As specialty coffee enters its third wave, not only have coffee drinkers become more sophisticated, but so have the coffee producers!

To produce better coffee beans, plantation owners, cooperatives, processing mills, and even small farmers continuously advance their cultivation, quality control, and green bean processing methods.

Mama Cata Estate: A Pioneer in Coffee Excellence

In our journey exploring coffee origins, we discovered an ultra-advanced estate - Panama's Mama Cata Estate.

Let us introduce how Mama Cata Estate produces delicious coffee while ensuring excellent quality for every batch.

Mama Cata Estate, operated by the Garrido family, comes from the Alto Quiel region of Boquete, Panama. Alto Quiel should be quite familiar to many, as numerous top-tier Panama coffees originate from this area.

The Garrido family also operates a processing mill outside Boquete town, where coffee cherries undergo everything from depulping to storage. Estate owner Jose David Garrido has implemented multiple improvement measures, enhancing the farm's processing techniques and quality control, including classifying and cupping washed process beans by batch.

Geographical Advantages and Technological Innovation

In 1997, Jose David Garrido took over the management of Mama Cata Estate. The estate's geographical location is exceptionally advantageous, situated at altitudes ranging from 1,500 to 1,700 meters, with average annual temperatures between 12 to 26 degrees Celsius, and fertile volcanic soil with approximately 175 inches of average rainfall. This natural microclimate provides coffee trees growing here with sufficient nutrients to absorb.

Unlike traditional estates, Mama Cata Estate utilizes GPS observation systems. Through technological data analysis, the Garrido family can understand each coffee tree's variety, soil composition, health status, and production conditions, further effectively utilizing these variables to control quality. Using this GPS data, they can also observe which batches are ready for harvest. During the coffee cherry harvesting process, the most crucial aspect is identifying and picking the most mature coffee cherries - with this technological assistance, it becomes much easier! Even natural drying processes are monitored by high-tech weather stations. The high-quality coffee produced under such care rightfully deserves to win Panama competitions! Afterward, the beans undergo hulling, classification, and cupping processes for grading before being arranged for shipment. Each batch of beans is kept separate and packaged individually, ensuring Mama Cata Estate's excellent quality.

The Estate's Rich History

Mama Cata Estate actually has an interesting story behind it. Before Panama became a nation, Mr. Monic owned what is now Mama Cata Estate, which even had its own currency called Texas. Later, it came under Mr. Fisher's ownership. After his wife passed away, Mr. Fisher remarried Catalina, who had been his housekeeper. The Fisher family early introduced Geisha, but only cultivated it in small batches, focusing mainly on the traditional Typica variety. Over several years, Mama Cata Estate's washed process Typica claimed the top prize three times in Panama coffee competitions. Today, its strength is even more formidable, ranking 16th in the Natural Geisha category, 4th in both the Washed Geisha and Traditional Washed categories, and 5th in the Innovation category in 2016.

Panama Geisha Coffee Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted Jensen Natural Geisha Coffee offers excellent guarantees in both brand and quality. More importantly, it provides exceptional value - each 100-gram bag costs only 138 RMB. Calculating at 15 grams of coffee beans per cup, one bag can make 6 cups, with each cup costing only about 22 RMB. Compared to cafe prices that often exceed 100 RMB per cup, this represents a conscientious recommendation.

Related recommendation: What do the red, green, and blue label distinctions mean for Panama and Colombia Geisha coffees?

Important Notice :

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