Top Three Panama Coffee Estates: The Illusion of Geisha Floral Fruit Tea from Duncan Estate

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FrontStreet Coffee - Introduction to Panama Duncan Estate

The three major estates in Panama are Elida Estate, La Esmeralda Estate, and Kotowa Duncan Estate.

Today, Panama has become one of the popular regions for specialty coffee. However, many years ago, Panama's coffee production was far from its current level, struggling to survive in the international coffee market competition. For Panama coffee, the real change came from a large-scale fungal infection of coffee trees in 1960. Seemingly unfortunate, it forced coffee farmers to cut down most of the infected coffee trees. The entire coffee community just wanted to find a solution as quickly as possible to prevent further losses.

Nowadays, Geisha has become synonymous with high-quality coffee from Panama.

Kotowa originates from the local indigenous language meaning "high mountain," located in the highlands near Baru Volcano. Among these, Kotowa Duncan Estate is situated on the eastern side of the Boquete Valley, with lush vegetation and unique microclimate and fertile volcanic soil. The sunrise comes earlier, and moisture from the Atlantic condenses at altitudes up to 2,500 meters to form rainfall, providing abundant water.

In 1913, farm founder Alexander Duncan traveled from Canada to Panama and was captivated by the magical local culture and aromatic coffee, falling deeply in love with this land. Four generations of the Alexander family have successively engaged in coffee cultivation and processing here.

The farm is now managed by Alexander's grandson, Ricardo Koyer. Because Ricardo places great importance on organic coffee production methods, believing that the environmental condition of the plantation affects the quality and flavor of the coffee, he prohibits the use of any herbicides, pesticides, and chemical pesticides in the plantation.

At the same time, to improve the quality of life for the farm's coffee farmers and their families, related living facilities have been established, providing good medical security, daily necessities, and after-school tutoring. Since 2002, it has received annual certification from UNICEF (Corporate Social Responsibility).

Notably, the Geisha from Kotowa Las Brujas Estate uses a special processing method that brings forth the sweetness of ripe fruits, even allowing one to taste mellow red wine flavors. Therefore, it's named the "Red Wine Processing Method"—selecting fully ripe coffee fruits with purple skin, placing them in cellars for low-temperature fermentation to increase their sugar content and sweetness, followed by sun-drying processing.

Origin: Panama

Estate: Kotowa Duncan Estate

Region: Baru Volcano Area

Variety: Geisha

Altitude: 1700-1800m

Processing Method: Washed

Flavor Description: Medium texture, soft and refreshing mouthfeel, prominent berry flavors, subtle jasmine fragrance, with notes of apricot, nectarine, and sweet white grapes.

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