Characteristics and Story of Panama Boquete Coffee Beans with a Distinctive Tea-Like Flavor

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On FrontStreet Coffee's bean list, Panama holds the center position on the blackboard, featuring several single-origin coffees. Some can be acquired for just dozens of yuan, while others command prices in the hundreds. This has caught the attention of many first-time visitors, who frequently ask baristas about the unique characteristics of each bean. To address these questions, FrontStreet Coffee today takes you on a journey to this world-renowned coffee origin and shares the story of coffee from this distant hemisphere.

The History of Panama Coffee

Compared to other Central American countries, Panama has a relatively short history of coffee cultivation but enjoys exceptional fame, being well-known throughout the specialty coffee community. Today, coffee has become an ubiquitous beverage on Panamanian dining tables, from corner guesthouses to high-end restaurants, all serving coffee grown in Panama itself.

According to records, coffee first arrived in Panama in 1742. At that time, a ship from the French Caribbean island of Martinique arrived through Cartagena (which did not produce coffee) to Portobelo, registering a barrel of coffee beans among its cargo. However, it wasn't until 1780 that coffee cultivation was first recorded on Panamanian territory. Settler Pedro Antonio de Ayarza attempted to grow coffee in Portobelo between 1780 and 1790, but quickly realized that this location was not suitable for coffee cultivation. It was in the 1820s that coffee began to be cultivated in other regions of Panama, successfully replacing chocolate as the main beverage and competing with tea, which had taken root in Europe.

Geographically, Panama is located in Central America, surrounded by countries known for high-quality coffee—Costa Rica to the left and Colombia to the right. Its coffee journey can be said to have begun with a silver spoon. FrontStreet Coffee observed that Panama is situated between two ocean currents, where Caribbean and Pacific air currents converge above 6,500 feet in the Boquete valley, creating unique and variable microclimates. This results in moderate temperatures and humidity, and combined with volcanic soil, allows coffee fruits grown here to more easily develop rich and diverse aromatic characteristics.

As we all know, the Panama Canal was built by the United States and remained under its exclusive control for some time after completion. It was the construction of the Panama Canal that brought many American elites south in the late 20th century—partly for work requirements and partly to explore business opportunities. Many famous Panamanian coffee estates were established by these elites. For example, the owner of Hacienda La Esmeralda was formerly a banker, and the owner of Hartmann Estate was previously an engineer. These elites adhered to principles of standardization and refinement in coffee estate management, whether in allocating coffee trees to plots based on altitude to create coffee grades, or in manual harvesting and refined processing methods—all important factors that contributed to Panama's worldwide reputation for coffee.

Panama Coffee Growing Regions

In Panama, coffee cultivation covers approximately 20,000 hectares, of which nearly 16,000 hectares are dedicated to Arabica varieties. The country's main coffee growing areas are concentrated in western Panama, near the Costa Rican border, in the Chiriquí province, which includes three famous coffee growing regions: Boquete, Volcán, and Renacimiento. These three locations are adjacent to each other, all situated on the Central American mountain ridge near the magnificent but relatively inactive Barú Volcano, with a maximum elevation of 3,475 meters. Due to diverse climates and fertile volcanic soil, Chiriquí has also become a province with enormous potential for agricultural and livestock production. Various agricultural and livestock activities have developed there, such as breeding purebred horses, flower cultivation, and particularly important coffee, cherry, and banana plantations. Below, FrontStreet Coffee continues to introduce these three main growing regions.

The cool and picturesque Boquete valley is the cradle of Panama's coffee industry. A large number of European immigrants arrived there in the late 19th century, mainly Swiss, Yugoslavians, Swedes, and Germans. They realized that coffee cultivation in nearby regions (Panama belonged to Colombia before 1903) had achieved excellent results, so they decided to dedicate themselves to coffee bean production. Currently, there are approximately 50 to 75 coffee farms and about 15 coffee processing plants in the Boquete region.

Boquete covers a land area of 514 square kilometers. Approximately 15,000 residents live there, primarily growing coffee, flowers, citrus fruits, strawberries, and various vegetables. Most coffee plantations in this region are located at around 1,600 meters above sea level. Almost all this land consists of nutrient-rich volcanic soil, ensuring sufficient nutrients for coffee trees. The climate is cool and somewhat dry, with a daily mist—especially in summer—that appears in the form of imperceptible drizzle, enveloping every coffee plantation. These mixed winds carrying rain are the reason why Boquete coffee cherries mature slowly. The resulting coffee flavor features beans with medium to high acidity.

Since Chiriquí province primarily grows coffee, coffee culture is deeply ingrained among the people. According to data from Panama's Ministry of Agricultural Development, the country has over 8,000 coffee growers, almost all of whom own farms of less than 30 hectares. Panama's coffee harvest period is from September to December. During this time, coffee plantations are filled with the indigenous Gnobe Bugle people, whom locals usually call Guaymíes. They come to help pick coffee beans during the harvest season. Due to their relatively strong harvesting techniques and expertise, their wages are also higher than others. Additionally, the Guaymí indigenous people maintain their traditional culture, making and wearing necklaces and clothing made of colorful beads, as well as baskets used for picking, creating a beautiful scene when standing in the coffee forests.

Before 1989, Panama's coffee prices were controlled by the International Coffee Agreement. For most of the 19th and 20th centuries, Panama also exported small quantities of green coffee beans to Western European countries. However, in that year, the agreement collapsed, and a crisis situation emerged with international green bean prices plummeting, with coffee bean prices dropping from $1.20 per pound to $0.74 per pound at one point.

In the early 1990s, as commercial coffee bean prices fell, Panama began to turn its attention to the emerging specialty coffee market. In 1996, seven local Panamanian coffee estate owners jointly established the Specialty Coffee Association of Panama (SCAP). They were Ricardo Koyner, Price Peterson, Jaime Tedman, Marcos Moreno, Tony Vasquez, Hans Collins, Josue Ruiz, Wilford Lamastus, Francisco Serricin, and Ratibor Hartmann. They also held the first green coffee bean competition and an online green coffee auction, aiming to jointly promote high-quality Panamanian coffee by organizing small-scale coffee growers nationwide.

Best of Panama (BOP)

This is one of the world's earliest established green coffee bean competitions, which can also be called a coffee bean "auction"—Best of Panama. Various estate owners submit high-quality coffee batches produced locally, the finest and highest-scoring ones are selected, and then based on the evaluated scores, sellers from around the world bid, with the highest bidder winning. In recent years, the winning bids for BOP championship beans have reached thousands of dollars, becoming a focal event in the coffee industry.

Unlike major producing countries such as Brazil and Vietnam, Panama follows a coffee route of low production and high-end specialty. In the 1990s, facing a downturn in Panama's coffee industry and a crisis in global green bean sales prices, coffee producers struggled to maintain their operations. Therefore, the Specialty Coffee Association of Panama (SCAP) organized local farm owners to jointly hold the first Best of Panama green coffee competition in 1996, selling specialty coffee beans through bidding. This greatly changed Panama's coffee industry while also influencing the direction of the global specialty coffee market.

Since Geisha scores in competitions are much higher than other varieties, submitted coffee beans are now divided into Geisha and non-Geisha groups, then further divided into natural and washed groups according to processing method. Various judges then conduct blind tasting and scoring, with the coffee bean receiving the highest average score becoming that year's Best of Panama. In 2022, Guayacán Estate's Geisha won first place in the natural Geisha category with an exceptionally high average score of 95.96, while the washed category championship was taken by Aurora Estate's Geisha with an average score as high as 96.15.

Flavor Characteristics of Panama Geisha

FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) believes that as the birthplace of Geisha's fame, Panama's mature cultivation techniques and processing methods still produce Geisha coffee that maintains industry reputation guarantees. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee has launched a Geisha coffee from the Boquete region, using washed processing, hoping to let everyone taste the classic Geisha flavor.

The washed process involves first placing selected coffee cherries into a depulper to initially remove the skin and pulp; then placing the green coffee beans with residual pulp mucilage into water to ferment for about 24 hours; after fermentation, placing the parchment coffee beans in flowing water channels to wash away the pulp and mucilage; after washing, drying the coffee beans either by sun-drying or using drying machines to reduce the moisture content to about 12%; and finally removing the parchment from the green coffee beans.

As one of the most traditional green bean processing methods, washed processing not only makes coffee production quality more stable but also allows Geisha to present higher cleanliness and fresher flavor profiles. After roasting, FrontStreet Coffee experiences Geisha's elegant white floral aromas, uplifting citrus and lemon acidity, with a slight green tea undertone, reminiscent of drinking a gentle Tieguanyin tea. With such rich flavors in Geisha coffee, how should it be brewed to avoid waste?

Geisha coffee is renowned worldwide for its rich floral aromas and complex fruit notes. FrontStreet Coffee's roasters hope to preserve more of Geisha's quality acidity, therefore choosing medium-light roasting (with slight adjustments for different batches). This roast level doesn't significantly change the high hardness of beans from high altitudes, so brewing requires increased extraction rates to present fuller flavor layers, suitable for pairing with fine grinding and high-temperature hot water.

To improve Geisha coffee extraction rates while avoiding over-extraction and highlighting sweet and sour flavor layers, FrontStreet Coffee's baristas use the V60 dripper. The V60 dripper features flow ribs connecting the top and bottom and a large circular hole at the center, which accelerates water flow downward, while the spiral-shaped air vent design lengthens the water flow path, increasing contact time between coffee grounds and hot water. Each water stream converges along the grooves toward the filter cup's center point, concentrating pressure on the coffee grounds and extracting coffee with richer layering.

Below, FrontStreet Coffee demonstrates the brewing steps for Hacienda La Esmeralda Red Label Natural Geisha as served in our store. You can refer to and compare with your own brewing approach.

The parameters for Red Label Geisha pour-over coffee are:

Dripper: V60
Water Temperature: 91-92°C
Coffee Amount: 15g
Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15
Grind Size: Fine sugar size (80% passing through #20 sieve)

Three-stage extraction: First, pour 15g of coffee grounds into the dripper and zero the scale. In the first stage, pour 30g of water for a 30-second bloom while starting the timer. Use a small water stream, pouring from the center point outward in circles, ensuring the entire coffee bed is moistened. In the second stage, use a slightly larger water stream to pour 120g of water, aiming to raise the entire coffee bed. The water stream needs to be poured vertically and evenly. At this point, the scale should show 150g, with pouring completed around 55 seconds.

When the water level drops to half, begin the third stage by pouring 90g using a small water stream in small circles. Try to control the water stream to not circle too widely, as this can easily scatter the coffee bed and cause under-extraction. The final water amount should total 240g, with completion time around 2 minutes and 10 seconds. After removing the dripper, shake the coffee in the sharing pitcher evenly before tasting.

The pour-over Panama washed Boquete Geisha coffee has clear acidity of citrus, lemon, and bergamot, with a creamy smooth mouthfeel when swallowed, and a finish of green tea and honey sweetness.

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