Where is La Palma y El Tucan Estate - La Palma y El Tucan Estate Coffee Varieties

FrontStreet Coffee - Palm Tree Toucan Estate Coffee Varieties

Neighbors and Crops Project

The founders of La Palma y El Tucan - Carlos, Elisa and Felipe - developed a plan to collaborate with their neighbors and establish a sustainable relationship model. They named this project "Neighbors and Crops" and identified more than 200 coffee producers within a 10-kilometer radius to participate. La Palma y El Tucan purchases coffee cherries from these neighbors, provides training for special harvests, and experiments with different processing methods to discover the perfect cup of coffee.

Sustainable Partnerships

The program involves selecting and training specific pickers in high-quality coffee harvesting methods. They then work alongside neighbors to select, sort and purchase cherries. These families receive income from purchasing coffee cherries that is 50% higher than the national average, while also receiving coffee trees grown in the La Palma y El Tucan nursery.

Quality Processing

The farm also specializes in advanced and experimental milling, processing coffee cherries with great care, documenting every step, and cupping each batch after the cherries are dried on raised beds. The goal is to produce the highest-quality product for export to roasters worldwide.

Estate and Varieties

Now, the most exciting part of this new farm is that they have planted many different varieties of coffee that will be harvested in the coming years. When Mariza and I visited the farm, they showed us Gesha, SL28, Bourbon, Caturra and several other varieties they are growing under high altitude and unique microclimate conditions.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If the varieties at La Palma y El Tucan, especially Gesha, have caught your interest, ours are worth exploring. The highest grade is FrontStreet Esmeralda Red Label Gesha, grown at 1600-1800 meters; every lot must cup above 90 points and carries its own number, with all beans in a lot coming from a single plot. For better value, FrontStreet Esmeralda Green Label Gesha blends several plots to express the estate's signature high-altitude Gesha character at a friendlier price. Newcomers can start with FrontStreet Boquete Gesha, an entry-level Panamanian Gesha that offers the classic orange-blossom honey sweetness, oolong tea sensation and delicate fruit acidity. From Ethiopia, FrontStreet Gesha Village Gold Label belongs to the Gesha 1931 variety and is the estate's top coffee outside auction, while FrontStreet Gesha Village Red Label is Gori Gesha and scored 88 or above on the SCA 100-point scale.

Gesha is a medium-light, floral-fruity coffee with a hard bean, so it can sink and clog the dripper. We suggest grinding to about 78% passing a China standard 20-mesh sieve (roughly fine sugar) and brewing at 91°C with 15g of coffee, a small Hario V60 and a 1:16 ratio. Use three pours: bloom to 30g for 30 seconds, pour to 125g, then to 225g, for a total time of about 2 minutes 10 seconds to 2 minutes 20 seconds.