About This Coffee
Gabriel de Dianous purchased Irma Esate in 1980. He named the farm after his wife, Irma, and has been cultivating coffee on the estate ever since. Gabriel can trace his family history back to 1880 when his great grandfather, an engineer named Joseph de Dianous, immigrated to Panama from France to work on the Panama Canal.
Gabriel’s father and grandfather were both coffee farmers in Panama. As a younger man, Gabriel worked on citrus farms in Florida. After retiring, he returned to Panama to pick up the family mantel and continue coffee farming. Today, Gabriel is aided by his son, also named Gabriel.
This lot is composed of the treasured Geisha variety. Geisha flourishes in Panama’s climate, which is similar to Ethiopia, where Geisha originated. This lot is flavorful and nuanced with dried fruit and black tea.
Cultivation
The Geisha trees at Irma Estate were planted in 2012. In addition to the Geisha in this lot, Gabriel also cultivates Catuai, Mundo Novo and Bourbon.
Harvest & Post-Harvest
Cherry is selectively hand harvested and laid to sun dry on patios. As cherry dries, workers rake parchment frequently to ensure even drying and remove any damaged beans by hand.
It is evident that the producers place the utmost care into processing this coffee. This coffee in this lot was processing using traditional Natural processing techniques. They call the processing method ‘winey’ process in order to differentiate this smaller-scale processing from the larger-scale Natural processing that is common throughout Brazil.
About Geisha
Geisha (also known as Gesha) is known for its exceptional cup quality, especially when grown at high altitudes. The variety comes from Ethiopian landrace coffees and was collected from Ethiopian coffee forests in the 1930s. The name supposedly derives from Ethiopia’s Gori Gesha forest.
There is some confusion with several genetically distinct varieties that have all been called Geisha, but the most famous variety is the Panama one. The variety was brought to Lyamungu research station in Tanzania and from there to Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE) in Central America in 1953. At CATIE, the variety was logged as T2722. CATIE distributed T2722 across Panama in the 1960s for its Coffee Leaf Rust (CLR) resistance, but its brittle branches meant it was not widely planted.
Panama Geisha reached its modern fame in 2005 when a Geisha lot won the “Best of Panama” competition and broke contemporary records at over $20/pound. DNA analysis has demonstrated that the Panama Geisha descended from T2722 is distinct and uniform. Today, Geisha is known for its delicate florals, jasmine and stone fruit.
Coffee in Panama
Though small in coffee production, Panama is a mighty player in coffee quality. In particular, Panama is famous for producing Geisha variety lots that have fetched prices exceeding $800 per pound. Today, its renown as a producer of rare and sought-after varieties positions Panama as a contender for a new kind of ‘coffee-tourism’ that has the potential to change the way we produce, purchase, consume and talk about specialty coffee on a global scale.
The high value of Geisha has brought out both the best and worst in the industry. For established producers who receive excellent prices for their Geisha and other lots, the high prices they receive have often been reinvested in their communities and in renovating their farms to be as environmentally sustainable as possible. Unfortunately, the lure of Geisha’s high value has led some people bypass traditional land purchasing agreements and illegally deforest areas of national parks to get the best location for new (and illicit) Geisha farms.
Even as the number of producers those receiving high prices for their Geisha remains relatively low, the blossoming coffee industry in Panama has demonstrated potential to raise incomes for a wider spectrum of producers and coffee workers.