Announcing Geisha by Jaramillo Estate, Boquete, Panama
We are thrilled to announce our latest Grow Together limited release coffee, Geisha by Jaramillo Estate, Boquete, Panama. Panamanian Geisha is widely considered the finest coffee varietal in the world, and we cannot wait to share this exceptional coffee experience with you.
So, what makes Geisha so special?
The Geisha varietal is prized all around the world for its incomparable quality, usually with striking fruit and floral notes that can be truly amazing. A delicate and complex fruit-forward flavor profile (think papaya, lime, honeysuckle…) and stunning, flowery aroma are what have made Geisha the highest rated coffee in the world, but it’s the incredible amount of care for the plant that really sets Geisha apart – it takes the right altitude, climate, cultivation and perfectly timed picking to capture the best of this delicate varietal.
Originally from Western Ethiopia, around Gehsa mountain outside of Jimma, Ethiopia, the varietal was brought over to Central America in the 1950s and cultivated for its resistance to disease in Costa Rica & Panama. Due to the fragile nature of the tree, as well as its lower yields, it was not used commonly across the larger coffee producing community until it was brought to prominence in the early 2000s by Hacienda La Esmeralda. Recognized for its exceptional quality, Panama Geisha from Hacienda La Esmeralda won the 2005 Best of Panama competition and so the varieties reputation and dispersal began to grow.
Boquete, Panama is considered the best location on earth for growing Geisha – home to producer Nadeia Guerra Suarez and our latest limited release coffee.
Boquete, Panama. A coffee lover’s paradise.
Volcan Barú, in northwest Panama, rises 1040 ft higher than the tallest of our beloved Three Sisters in Central Oregon. Blanketed in jungle rather than snow fields and glaciers, Barú is draped in bajareque—a mist found nowhere else on earth—creeping down the volcanic slopes and through coffee farms each afternoon as ocean air from the Pacific and Atlantic collide as they crest over Volcan Barú’s ridges. Barú is a climate unlike anywhere else in the world.
The town of Boquete, on Barú’s eastern flank, is known for its natural beauty and perfect climate with the lowland tropical heat dissipating as you climb up the stratovolcano and into Boquete. The area, called Valley Of The Moon, has an incredibly unique terroir: the cooler climate and mists from the volcano create the perfect conditions for high quality coffee, slowing the maturation of Geisha coffee cherries.
And perched above the city on the misty green slopes of Volcan Barú lie Hortigal & Jaramillo Estates, run by Nadeia Guerra Suarez.
Meet Nadeía Guerra Suarez.
Owned and operated by Nadeía Guerra Suarez, the Hortigal & Jaramillo Estates have been in the Suarez family for multiple generations.
Nadeia’s family have lived in Boquete, Panama since the late 1800’s when her great grandfather settled and began to cultivate the land. In the 1940’s, her grandfather, Vidal, began his own agricultural business cultivating different vegetables and potatoes, eventually switching and exclusively focusing on coffee.
Throughout life Vidal grew his business from one farm to a group of farms and in 1989 he purchased and built the wet mill Beneficios de Cafe de Boquete with a business partner. As a visionary coffee producer he continued to grow his coffee business acquiring Hortigal Estate from another local farmer in the 1990s. With each farm possessing a unique terroir and micro climate, Vidal had access to different qualities and scale allowing his business to thrive.
With a life dedicated to cultivating his land, Vidal passed in 2001 leaving his farms to his wife. Eira Nadeia ran the farms until 2017 when she decided to split the group of farms between her six children, giving Hortigal & Jaramillo Estates to Eira Maria, Nadeia’s mother. After receiving the farms, Eira Maria incorporated them and shared the ownership of the farms with herself, Nadeia, and her other two daughters, Carmen and Lourdes, with Nadeia taking over responsibility of the running of Hortigal and Jaramillo Estates at that time.
Since taking over the farms in 2017 Nadeia has sought to give the business the structure and tools they need to grow and succeed. Focusing on learning and excelling at coffee production and quality, she leaned heavily on the experiences of her uncle Norberto and her farm manager at Jaramillo Estate, Medardo, in order to build up her skill base.
Nadeia now walks the coffee fields with Medardo working together to ensure the coffee trees are thriving. Her Caturra coffee trees are planted on the lower slopes of Jaramillo and the Geisha lot is cultivated in the upper reaches of the farm.
Growing Together
Our upcoming Geisha release is a part of our Grow Together initiative – special coffees sourced from farms around the world that share our passion for crafting a stronger, more sustainable coffee industry through authentic relationships and memorable experiences.
We first discovered Nadeia’s Hortigal Estate in 2019 while searching for a new Panamanian coffee to release, our first since founder Winfield Durham offered coffee from Panama years agounder the name Panama Red. Hortigal Estate’s coffee stood out for its crispness and potential on the table, so we purchased our first offering that year. Shortly thereafter, Nadeía reached out to co-owner Jesse Durham and Director of Coffee Sourcing & Quality Khristian Yurchak. It was great to be connected with her and we ended up visiting Nadeía the following March in Boquete.
In the wake of that trip we felt a strong connection with Nadeía and a lot of synergy with her story of a young entrepreneur making her way on a path previously unknown to her – it reminded us both of Sisters Coffee’s journey and our bootstrapped roots going back to when we started roasting coffee out of a wooden shack back in 1989.
Resonating with Nadeia’s vision and truly impressed with the quality of her coffee and ethical operations, we knew we wanted to continue growing and investing in our relationship. Our Geisha release is the culmination of years of collaboration that have brought us closer and enriched all of our lives in countless ways.
Our Releases
To celebrate our relationship with Nadeia and this amazing coffee, we are releasing two editions of Geisha from Jaramillo Estate.
Tres Montañas is a day lot named for the Three Sisters mountains outside of our beloved hometown of Sisters, Oregon. Harvested on February 14th and meticulously dried on raised beds for 17 days, Tres Montañas erupts with notes of peach, hibiscus, & lime.
Pajaros del Valle de la Luna is named for the lush valley where Jaramillo Estate lies. Harvested on February 13th and meticulously dried on raised beds for 18 days, Pajaros del Valle de la Luna shines with notes of nectarine, grapefruit and honey.
The culmination of four years of work, this coffee encapsulates the natural beauty of Central Oregon and Boquete Panama in a pair of breathtaking cups.
HOW TO ORDER
Tres Montañas and Pajaros del Valle de la Luna will be released in our cafes and online on December 8th, 2023.
If you are intending to buy through our online store, be the first to know when it goes live by signing up for our 'Exclusive Releases Email List!'
