Panama Carmen Estate

Sweet Maria's Coffee

Carmen Estate is a small farm located high on the hillside above the large, well known Finca La Florentina. In fact, La Florentina used to buy the coffee cherry from all the surrounding farms to augment their own, but this was done for more than increasing the volume. The fact is, La Florentina is down in the flat valley and Carmen Estate roughtly another 500-600 meters higher up. Carmen is on a very steep hillside with southern exposure, and due to the high altitude, the coffee has greater density, better acidity, a more piquant cup. So in a way, Florentina was getting some better cup quality with Carmen in the mix. But the farm was passed down to the new generation of the Franceschi family, namely Carlos Franceschi (Carmen was his grandmother)... and he realized that they had a better coffee on their family farm then something to blend with lower-grown coffees. He built an independant mill for the Estate down in the valley using the latest equipment, and began a program to care for the trees usign new techniques. This farm uses the de-muscilage process where the muscilage is stripped off the parchment layer using friction, rather than traditional fermentation. I was very impressed with the high altitude and excellent practices of Carlos and Finca Carmen. This coffee won the #3 spot in the Best of Panama competition in 2003, 2004 and #2 in 2005. The entire farm is very high altitude; it starts at 1450, an altitude many farms don't even reach, meters and goes up from there! We have a special arrangement to buy the coffee each year from the 1700+ meter altitudes, a very small amount of coffee. We sold out of that lot rapidly this year, but the entire crop is so good (a testament to Carlos' innovations) we set aside this Estate lot from his later shipment to the US, based on sample approval once it got here. Well, the sample was great, so once again we have Carmen Estate coffee this '05 season. The cup is bright, very lively, very nippy. at a City + roast, this acidity is knotted together with a very distinct golden raisin flavor. It is a unique, specific kind of bright, zippy raisin flavor, that is. When it cools it has a tart cherry fruitiness to the cup. The acidity is remarkable, in the realm of Kenyas. (A note to those who think they don't like acidic coffees; saying a coffee is acidic does not mean it has an acidic effect, but rather it has a high range in the cup flavors due to flavorful acids - think of hop flower brightness in an IPA ale.)

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For more information on this product, visit Sweet Maria's Coffee's website.

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