Panama Geisha | Finca Deborah

During our recent visit to World of Coffee in Geneva we had a chance to meet up with Saša Šestić who invited us to cup incredible fresh lots from Brazil and Panama. This Geisha really stood up and it’s no surprise. 

Panamanian coffee is highly prized worldwide for its sweet, citrusy, and floral flavor profiles, especially its renowned Geisha variety, which usually fetches record prices. Grown primarily in the highland region of Boquete, the coffee thrives in volcanic soil, benefitting from a favorable climate.

Finca Deborah and its owner and producer Jamison Savage, who we also had a pleasure to meet, are doing an incredible breakthrough with unique coffee processing. Thanks to Jamison’s experience and openness with Saša’s input and methods lots from Finca Deborah are delivering extraordinary profiles, ending up on championships and winning multiple awards worldwide. 

Producer Jamison Savage has dedicated over 10 years to building Finca Deborah at one of the highest, shade grown coffee estates in the Chiriqui highlands of Volcan, Panama. Jamison believes a balanced ecosystem is essential to responsible coffee production and sustainability is a key theme across his work. Every effort is taken to preserve the terroir and no herbicides or harmful chemicals are applied to the flora.

The result is a breathtaking rainforest canopy where carpets of lush cover-crops run freely between the coffee trees and rare species of birds and insects abound. Finca Deborah is considered one of the worlds preeminent coffee estates. Despite it’s placement in several coveted world championship competitions, Jamison continues to experiment and search for new ways to improve his agronomy and processing. Since 2016, he collaborated with Saša Šestić on implementing washed and natural CM techniques on the farm, many of which are highly sought after today.

One of the biggest concerns for Panamanian coffee farmers is security of labour. At Finca Deborah, the primary workforce on the farm is the Nobe-Bugle, and they are provided excellent living quarters, amenities, medical care and transportation, with plans for a child education building in the mix. There is room for workers to grow their own vegetables such as corn, beans, squash, banana and papaya, on the farm and there are over two dozen healthy chickens that provide eggs. The idea of community and family is incredibly important at Finca Deborah and while this all might sound standard, it is actually unusual and a direct contributor to Deborah’s skilled labour retention. We believe Jamison’s sustainable approach to farming mixed with advanced technological practices, a deep respect for nature and love of community guide him to being one of the worlds most impressive coffee producers.

Processing Details

- Cherries are harvested perfectly ripe at 20-22º Brix and further hand sorted
- Beans are pulped and floated to additionally sort cherries by density
- Pulped beans are layered in sealed tanks with cascara, where the layers are of equal ration pulped beans - cascara cherry. Layers continue through entire tank all the way to the top, and sealed for fermentation
- Tanks are flushed daily with Nitrogen for fermentation time in stable temperatures
- Coffee is removed from tanks and thoroughly washed before being laid on a three tier raised African bed system under controlled drying conditions at Finca Deborah
- The Finca Deborah drying room controls temperature, heat, humidity and airflow to ensure cherries have optimal conditions to enhance the best flavours
- Drying typically takes 15 days
- Moisture content is reduced to 10-12%
- Beans are stored in parchment in grain-pro bags to stabilise the moisture levels and stored under controlled conditions at cool and stable temperatures
- When stabilisation is complete, coffee is then hulled and selected for density, size,
shape and colour before being lightly vacuum sealed ready for export
- We roast this coffee in small 100g batches on Roest roasting machine to maintain maximum consistency. Each bin is packed manually. Please note that longer delivery times are possible for reasons mentioned.

Optimal brewing time is 2 weeks after roasting date. This coffee works both for filter and as an espresso due to prolonged nitrogen fermentation.

Region: Volcan, Chiriqui
Producer: Jamison Savage, Finca Deborah
Altitude: 1900-2000m
Variety: Geisha
Process: washed, nitrogen anaerobic fermentation
Taste notes: apricot, lychee, peach iced tea, jasmine, lemongrass, black tea
Weight: 125g

Available as beans only. Cannot be ground to order!