A Boutique coffee farm in the high hills of Alto Boquete, producing quality Geisha coffee with boutique quantity, enough to full fill all our orders until the next harvest.
We moved to Alto Jaramillo in 2007, in 2005 we bought our Finca which already had coffee. While we were waiting for our home to be built we had more coffee planted on the property. Our knowledge was growing fast, colleagues, experts and neighbors taught us more about coffee, through knowledgeable help we learned about coffee.
So We are a coffee farm in Boquete, Alto Jaramillo, Panama our coffee is a harmonious blend of Caturra, Catuai,Pacamara, Bourbon, and Geisha coffee at 1500 meters altitude under shade with natural fertilizers , which is also ideal for Geisha. Our coffee is handpicked, fermented, hand washed, and sun-dried when ready ,stored in parchment for approx 3 months. Our farm consists of approximately 10,000 trees all 50% shade grown at 4,500 to 5,500 ft altitude in rich volcanic soil.
Processing coffee the traditional way, that is, it is hand-picked only when it is ripe & red. The coffee cherries are then floated in tubs. Any coffee that floats is inferior because of unseen defects (anywhere from 5 to 10%) & it is not processed any further. The good coffee is then ex pulped in a motorized crank machine & left out in mesh bags for approximately a day to let its honey drip out. After this, it is rinsed in freshwater & put in trays to sun dried or put in greenhouses until it contains 10 to 12% humidity. Then sealed in large bags & put in our storage shed for a minimum of 60 days before it is roasted or sold in parchment to home roasters or coffee shops that roast their own. When we roast, we only roast about 50 to 100lbs at a time so as to keep the coffee as fresh as possible.
This process is completely different to the process used by most large growers who in addition to the coffee they grow, they buy their beans from different growers who grow in all kinds of inferior altitudes, sun & soil conditions. they also machine dry their beans with large industrial blowers/driers & roast massive amounts at the same time
although the process we use is more labor-consuming & expensive for us, we & our clients, believe that it makes a difference in flavor. Thus we are a boutique coffee farm going for Quality and not Quantity
In December of 2017, my husband Frank Santana passed away. I have decided to keep up the farm with continuing request for our coffee. This harvest I will be experimenting with a honey washed coffee.
The production of Geisha is coming along very nicely
I hope that this information is of some assistance to you & if you need anything from me do not hesitate to contact me
Regards
Carol
