Geisha | Volcán Region Panama's Finca La Mula |

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Panama Volcán Region Finca Piedra de Candela | What are the flavors of Geisha and Catuai varieties with honey-processed and sun-dried processing?

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

Basic Information

Country: Panama

Region: Piedra de Candela

Altitude: 1,750-1,950 meters

Varieties: Geisha, Catuai

Producer: Graciano Cruz

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

Location and Terroir

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

If we start from the well-known Boquete region, it takes two hours to reach Volcán town, then follow Highway 43, which eventually crosses the border, winding westward for about an hour to reach Santa Clara. Our beloved Finca Hartmann is almost here. Leaving the scenic Highway 43 here and turning onto the ridge road heading upward, we finally catch a whiff of our arduous bean-hunting journey, as along the way we first pass another famous farm, FST (Finca Santa Teresa), at an altitude of about 1,500 meters. Continuing deeper, we pass the entrance and lowest point of Finca La Aurora, which drives everyone crazy, but this isn't the end yet. Upholding the spirit of going through fire and water, we continue forward and finally arrive at Finca Piedra de Candela. In fact, when we walk around Finca Piedra de Candela, the owner points to the slopes on the west or north side and tells us that beyond them lies Costa Rica.

Climate and Environment

In terms of climate, we have visited Santa Clara and Volcán more than three times each, but coming this deep into the region to Finca Piedra de Candela is our first time. However, summarizing our observations, the microclimate environment here is quite different from Boquete. Boquete receives sea breezes from the Atlantic through topographical gaps, and with terrain variations, it has rich microclimates and very humid weather. Here the sun shines while rain falls elsewhere in the distance with rainbows hanging; here it's calm while winds howl through distant valleys, or mornings bring fog and drizzle, followed by sun at noon and light rain again in the evening - all common occurrences.

However, the entire Volcán region (including Santa Clara to the west or the Piedra de Candela area) presents a completely different situation. The northern mountain barriers of Volcán are deeper, making it difficult for Atlantic moisture to rush in with the wind. Often it's clear skies for thousands of miles, and bypassing Volcán Barú brings a completely different feeling. Further west heading toward the Santa Clara area, clear skies, scorching sun, and dry air seem to continue intensifying.

When we visited to serve as international judges for Best Of Panama in May 2016, we revisited farms in this region again. In Boquete region farms, quite a few were already flowering with light rain in May, while coffee trees in the Santa Clara region were still very suppressed - truly two different scenarios. However, the suppression of coffee trees is also a natural cycle that often makes coffee trees more concentrated 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 of higher sweetness. Let us continue to observe and verify.

Processing Methods

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

The microclimate environment here is quite different from Boquete. Boquete receives sea breezes from the Atlantic through topographical gaps, and with terrain variations, it has rich microclimates and very humid weather. Here the sun shines while rain falls elsewhere in the distance with rainbows hanging; here it's calm while winds howl through distant valleys, or mornings bring fog and drizzle, followed by sun at noon and light rain again in the evening - all common occurrences.

However, the entire Volcán region (including Santa Clara to the west or the Piedra de Candela area) presents a completely different situation. The northern mountain barriers of Volcán are deeper, making it difficult for Atlantic moisture to rush in with the wind. Often it's clear skies for thousands of miles, and bypassing Volcán Barú brings a completely different feeling. Further west heading toward the Santa Clara area, clear skies, scorching sun, and dry air seem to continue intensifying.

In Boquete region farms, quite a few were already flowering with light rain in May, while coffee trees in the Santa Clara region were still very suppressed - truly two different scenarios. However, the suppression of coffee trees is also a natural cycle that often makes coffee trees more concentrated in flowering and fruiting, perhaps the reason why coffee from the Santa Clara region seems to have a trend of higher sweetness.

FrontStreet Coffee's Recommended Brewing Method

Dripper: Hario V60

Water Temperature: 90°C

Grind Size: Fuji Royal R-440 #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 water, pause. Wait until the water level in the coffee bed drops to half, then continue infusion. Slowly pour water until reaching 225g total. Extraction time approximately 2:00.

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

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