Behind the making of Panama’s $100-a-cup coffee

Panama grows some of the global’s perfect coffee, however no brew is also extra coveted than the “Geisha” varietal grown in faraway portions of the nation. 

The Panamanian model of the coffee, which will promote for as much as $100 a cup in the United States, is amongst the global’s costliest. 

In western Panama’s Chiriqui Province, coffee grower Ratibor Hartmann, his son Rabitor Junior, and coffee importer Ellen Fan took CBS News at the back of the scenes of their operation. The property the place they develop the coffee is positioned on the facet of a mountain, the place altitude and volcanic soil make it the easiest position to develop the well-known beans. Ratibor mentioned that breezes from the Pacific and Caribbean grace the mountain’s slopes, including to the taste. 

Hartmann describes Geisha coffee as “very juicy, very sweet,” whilst Fan describes it as having “fruit notes like candy and grapes.” 

“This varietal, Panamanian Geisha, is the best,” added Fan. 

Geisha coffee beans in fact originate from Ethiopia. They have been firstly referred to as “Gesha” beans, named after the area in Ethiopia the place they originated, however the misspelling caught. 

The bean made its method to Panama because of an experiment through the overdue Price Peterson and his circle of relatives, who discovered that Geisha beans may just continue to exist some adverse climate. 

That experiment yielded a coffee in contrast to any that they had ever tasted, and in 2004, they entered the coffee in a “Best of Panama” festival. 

“It was no competition,” mentioned Daniel Peterson, Price Peterson’s son. “Judges, international judges that had been exposed to coffees around the world just – they fell in love with it.” 

Ever since then, Daniel and Rachel Peterson had been running to best that. They’ve experimented with other varities, fermentation and drying strategies, and extra. Some of their batches promote for greater than $500 a pound, because of the restricted provide of the beans and the property’s meticulous dealing with of the prized merchandise. 

Panamanian chef Charlie Collins mentioned that gross sales of Geisha coffee have helped draw vacationers to Panama and to the town of Boquete, which is close to the Peterson farm. One of his baristas, Kenneth Duarte, cherished the coffee such a lot that he realized the advantageous artwork of brewing it.

“Business has increased, it’s been very good for the community of Boquete, but it’s also been very good for Panama,” Collins mentioned.