Who knew that catastrophic storms would factor into one of the best natural dry-process coffees from Central America we have seen? That's what happened at Carmen Estate this last year, and we asked Carlos to replicate the lot in this current crop. A series of intense (hurricane-like) storms rocked the Chirqui province in North Panama in late '08 and early '09, stripping the coffee trees of fruit and leaves in some areas and sending flood-level waters down the rivers. Carmen estate was protected from the damaging winds but the river that lies between the farm and the mill where the coffee fruit is processed swelled up and washed away the bridge. Power was out for 7 days in mid-January, right when the coffee cherry was in mid-harvest. The only option Carlos and Toņo (the owner and the farm manager) had was to lay out the whole cherries to dry ...to create a dry-process lot. Amazingly, this coffee has a fantastic cup, and we have named it Los Siete Dias de Bellota: Bellota is the local name for a dry-process coffee, and it means "nut" based on the appearance of a dried whole coffee cherry pod. Usually Bellota is the last coffee strip-picked from the trees, for local consumption, and includes unripe fruits and other damage. But here it refers to all-ripe, red coffee fruit picked at the peak of harvest.

The Siete Dias is an extremely different flavor profile than the wet-process Carmen coffee, and I think this new crop lot in the "Siete Dias..." tradition is as fantastic as the original. The dry fragrance has an abundance of chocolate (actually, like s'mores - chocolate, graham cracker, marshmallow!) There is sweet fruit in the light roasts; apple, peach. In darker roasts it is chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate. Wet aromas have a similar shift from light to dark roast levels, and it's one of many ways this coffee is reminiscent of dry-process Ethiopia Sidamo. At C+ roast there is sweet cooked fruit, like peach pie, and at FC+ it is thick layers of chocolate. You might not like this coffee roasted as light as I do (City roast) but the very cleanly fruited cup at this level proves the quality of this coffee, even if you roast it darker to obscure these fruits. It has Sidamo-like peach and dried apricot flavors, even a bit of Yemeni spice, cinnamon in particular. At City roast it has almondy roast tone and round body. As the lighter roast cools, the fruits seems more like fig and when I brewed it in a French Press it had mango and melon as it cooled, and sweetness becomes shorter in the finish. It's an intense SO espresso, with clean tangy chocolate and a very long aftertaste. Overall, the acidity is very mild, which makes this coffee 180 degrees opposite the wet-process Carmen estate 1900 meter lot we have. It would be very, very hard to guess this was even a Central America coffee in a blind cupping, without some prior knowledge!

We have offered Esmeralda Especial Gesha for a decade now, but only in the last 3 years has the farm held a private auction to market this famous coffee. This was a mixed blessing: on the one hand this careful separation of Gesha lots by location or plot on the farm, and by harvest date, meant that we could compare and chose based on cup quality. Indeed we found there was a huge range in qualities among the different elevations. On the down side, the competition would drive the best lots to extreme prices. At one time we paid $6 to $11 per Lb for this coffee, and now the prices for the lowest level of Geshas in the auction are $20. We simply buy the lots we think are best, and this year we bought two, Mario Enero and Mario Carnaval. The later is offered here, and it was a really outstanding lot of the 8 separations offered this year by the farm. Mario is the original Gesha area on the farm in Jaramillo, not one of the new areas they have since planted. It is located between 1500-1650 meters, harvested during the month of February, 2010. Gesha (often spelled, wishfully, as Geisha, but this is not correct) is a cultivar with strong Ethiopian roots. It\\\'s rare that a coffee varietal announces itself so clearly in the cup flavors as the Gesha cultivar does in Panamanian coffee. It\\\'s extremely floral in the aromatics, with loads of tropical fruit. It is light bodied and delicate on one hand, yet extremely flavorful and long-lasting on the palate. There is no other coffee quite like it. And other farms that have cultivated Gesha don\\\'t attain the cup quality of the best Esmeralda Gesha. We have bought this coffee in auction, and farm direct for years. The Esmeralda Gesha makes blind cupping almost senseless, since I can identify its amazing fragrance, aroma and cup flavors immediately when I come upon it in a \\\"blind\\\" cupping! It is that dry fragrance that lets you know right away what is coming when the water hits the cup: incredible sweet floral, citrus blossom, sweet honey perfume atomized into the air. In terms of intensity, fruited and floral aspects, wet-processed Ethiopians and Kenyas are more in league with Gesha than any other Central American coffee. But it is difficult to price this sort of cup character. And when it is as exotic ...no, extraterrestrial ... as the Esmeralda Gesha, it is even more hard to quantify. In tasting the Gesha coffees, the cup flavors might seem less intense than the extreme aromatics. As the cup cools, perceived intensity and brightness will increase exponentially.

Aromatically, Gesha from Esmeralda is always a treat. Sweet dark berry aromatics with a floral accent, Carnaval is the classic Esmeralda Gesha coffee for sure. The wet aroma has jasmine and ripe cherry notes, honey, brown bread, and soft milk chocolate at slightly darker roast levels. The cup has a light-yet-juicy body. Interestingly, after these knock-out aromatics, the first sip of the hot brew can be a little bit underwhelming. Wait for the temperature to drop a few degrees and it really "opens up." The sweetness and fruit juice aspects of this years Esmeralda are astounding. Interestingly, this coffee is slightly inverted this year: the first flavors on the palate are super sweet berry juice, a blackberry-blueberry-raspberry blend. Then on the finish and in the "afternose" there is jasmine accents. Usually the floral comes first, then a wave of sweet fruit. The acidity in this years Mario seems a bit more tame than last year, and I think I appreciate that. The cup has a better structure, well-knit flavors, brightness and body.Note that we have found a few quakers (light-color beans that do not roast, they come from under-ripe coffee cherries) in this years coffees. In reality, there has always been a bit of this in Esmeralda Gesha lots, and just remove the 1 or 2 you might see in your roast before grinding and brewing. We are offering this years Esmeralda Gesha in 1 Lb vacuum packs for those who want to buy it now but save it for a special date later. Supply is very limited this year!

Camiseta is a district in the Boquete region of Panama, but also the name of the farm where this lot originates. It's a traditional wet-process coffee The fragrance from the dry grounds indicates a classic, malty, balanced Boquete flavor profile. Caramel, hazelnut and hibiscus (City roast) prevail, becoming more like Dutch cocoa at Full City roast. In the wet aroma I get maple, caramel, almond extract, and milk chocolate smells. The cup is sweet, balanced well between brightness and body. It has apple acidity (malic) which seems a bit winey in the darker roast levels, and caramelized brown sugar sweetness. The soft, rounded, creamy mouthfeel is very pleasant, and a bit unique among coffees from this area which can be a little thin, (especially the famous Gesha coffees). It's not a super complex coffee, but has both sharp and sweet flavors on the palate, as well as a hint of cedar in the finish. I think it rates very well alongside wet-process, clean-tasting Costa Rica lots, as well as some of the Guatemala caturra coffees, and it isn't a Panama that will break the bank either!