Panamanian Catuwa Coffee Manor Story introduction to Panamanian Kotowa Cotewa Manor Information History

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A real boutique coffee estate-Panama Kotowa (Coteva Manor, Panama)

When it comes to Kotowa Manor in Boquete (Poquet Valley), most coffee makers will have their eyes lit up!

And this is also the front street coffee buddies, the favorite Panamanian coffee estate!

First of all, let's take a look at its excellent competition results, not only winning awards year after year, but also BOP (Best of Panama) in the last five years. Regardless of whether it is divided into two groups / three groups / four groups in that year, the army of Kotowa is able to win awards in each category every year.

Actually, in Kotowa Don K, Duncan, Las Brujas... Behind the legend, there is an out-and-out coffee man, Ricardo Koyan (Ricardo Koyner), who inherited his mother's grandfather, Alexander Alexandar Duncan, the coffee garden founded in 1917, and the washing plant built by Grandpa Don K.

However, Panamanian coffee was still unknown at that time, not only the geisha coffee tree was still waiting for people to discover, but also in the United States in the 1990s, disguised as Kona of Hawaii, many high-quality beans were innocently involved in the most famous coffee fraud in history. At the same time, the price of coffee futures in New York has fallen year after year after the end of the Cold War. The prospect of running a coffee farm was actually very bad at that time.

However, Ricardo, who has a university degree in economics, knows very well that only by producing the highest quality raw beans can Kotowa Manor get rid of the shackles of futures prices and have the basis for sustainable operation and even carry forward.

Unlike many "landlords" who own large tracts of land to hire farmers to produce coffee, he is the owner of the "most peasant" coffee farm we have ever seen: when we first visited him, it was already night after a cup test. just when we regretted that we had no chance to actually go to his coffee farm, he offered to take us to Don K and Duncan at six o'clock the next morning! He said you're welcome, it was the time when he often went to see the coffee garden. The two coffee plantations on both sides of the same mountain line were named in memory of his great-great-grandfather and grandfather. It was the land he later bought under his management, and it was also the production park of the flagship products of Kotowa Manor. 1700 meters above sea level, relying on the Volcan Baru volcano, belongs to the west side of the valley, there is a sunny area on the edge line designated as a high-altitude bean drying farm, responsible for handling all high-altitude sun-dried beans and water-washed beans. The rest of the hillsides are covered with Kaddura and Catuai. But the Lingxian platform at the highest altitude is full of famous varieties of geisha!

Although the two adjacent gardens are not certified, the whole garden is cultivated in an organic way: the Bidens has not yet been hoed up to the shoulder height, and you are covered with grass; a shade tree three stories high emits the buzzing of ten thousand bees! It turned out that the tree was in full bloom, and all the bees nearby came to collect honey. Ricardo casually picked red ripe geisha berries for us to taste, and the flesh unexpectedly emitted a strong passion fruit / litchi / pineapple aroma in the mouth!

Just as the flavor of the hundred fruits drifted away in the nasal cavity, he took us close to a geisha tree with a slightly different shape and told us that it had longer fruit seeds, and there was a mutant with a yellow pericarp. "it makes me wonder-he seems to know every coffee tree and exactly where they are!

The most interesting thing is that when I met a harvester who asked for a picture, Ricardo asked me to take a picture of him and the collector first! Then there is a picture of me and the collector. I have never seen a coffee farmer who is so close to the people!

When asked whether the relationship between altitude and coffee quality is absolute? Ricardo said, "at least in the Poquet Valley, that's for sure!" This is why there is already a large coffee garden under Jaramillo on the east side of the valley, 1350 meters above sea level, and why we have to buy this higher elevation land. But I also saw the accurate judgment and subsequent efforts made by Ricardo in order to move forward on the road of boutique coffee!

As a result, when the price of coffee futures hit rock bottom in 2002, the price was only 50 cents per pound, less than half of what it is now! Panamanian Coffee was preparing for a sudden rise ~ at that time Ricardo and other Daniel and Rachel siblings of Wilford,Don Pachi Manor in Elida Manor, Francisco,Esmeralda Manor in Francisco,Esmeralda Manor, … A group of excellent Panamanian coffee farmers first launched the Panamanian Coffee Association (SCAP), sharing and learning about planting and processing techniques, and then held a BOP competition. In just a few years, it attracted the attention of many boutique coffee lovers, and then the dazzling geisha coffee made its debut, which was well-known and sought after all over the world.

This is not only not a fluke at all, but also a silent effort and open-minded sharing and learning! As the core and leading coffee garden, Kotowa soon received a geisha seed from Esmeralda and invested in the production and technological improvement of geisha coffee. For example, the sun treatment method, which is extremely disliked by SCAA cup testing experts, has become another dazzling star in just a few years!

Today, Ricardo not only delves into the causes of various forms of geisha, but also cooperates with UC Davis, a leading agricultural research center in the United States, to learn more about the secrets of geisha producing good taste! Over the past few years, he has invested heavily in buying a coffee garden, Las Brujas, which is 1850 to 1900 meters high and also belongs to the side of the Balu volcano. And the local interesting surface potholes suddenly become dry and stagnant due to the rapid change of the water table, and there is a strong wind blowing and whining, as if wizards are hiding in the woods. So named after the Spanish Brujas (witch) ~ this is particularly rare in the Poquet Valley, where land prices are becoming more and more expensive!

(more often, farmers would rather sell their land and charge a lot of cash at a time, and then enjoy a luxury life like winning the lottery! (but he said it was worth it! Because of the higher altitude, the geisha has been promoted to another level ~ the only disadvantage is that it is cold, the coffee trees grow slowly, and the yield increases relatively slowly. So geisha at the wizard manor are still quite rare.

Personally, he also continues to devote himself to the improvement of manor technology: for example, the "new sheller" for sun-dried beans, this is because the general sheller is designed to wash beans with water, and the sun-dried fruit shells like raisins will adhere and accumulate in this machine, causing the sheller to produce intense friction and heat, which is so hot that the hands will be scalded! This kind of high heat is definitely harmful to coffee beans, especially the thicker the berry pulp at higher altitude, the greater the trouble! New sun bean sheller, in addition to not easy to accumulate dried fruit shell, specially designed air-cooled pipeline, and powerful blower. All in order to completely solve the crisis of hot beans when the sun beans are shelled.

Also, he recently invested in two sets of "circulating cold dryers" to precisely control the relative humidity of the circulating compressed air, slowly drying shell beans in a closed dryer system, completely avoiding exposure to higher temperatures when drying raw beans ~ it is generally considered ideal to dry below 37 degrees Celsius, but these two new toys from Ricardo can work below 20 degrees Celsius! As for the question, what is the effect? He said cunningly, "it may have worked, or it may not have been tried yet."

Also, about preserving raw beans... On the other hand, he generously opened the warehouse for storing fine raw beans and built a small room two stories high-he saw an air conditioner in operation! This is my first time in the producing area, I saw someone using the air-conditioning system to save raw beans! (of course, when I saw some people with the same tortoise hair later, it was not strange to see it! )

Also, he is testing several wet / dry fermentation washing methods and has obtained a number of key principles for improving quality. And... ... ... Perhaps we can't fully understand all the details of how to make better coffee in the Poquet Valley! In fact, these details are still being better understood and improved every day. But the only thing we understand is that a good cup of coffee is not easy to come by: starting with raw beans, it is the mountains / the trees / the people. Work hard together! To our hands, from saving / baking / grinding / brewing / tasting … So how lucky it is to make great strides on the road of boutique coffee industry together.

Cottwa Duncan Manor in Panama

Kotowa has a total of four coffee estates, namely, Finca Kotowa Duncan, Finca Kotowa Don K, Finca Kotowa RIO CRISTAL and Finca Kotowa tradicional, among which Duncan Manor is named after the owner who pioneered the land. The two most famous estates are Duncan and Don K, which are actually located on both sides of the mausoleum line, with not only great changes in micro climate, but also different flavors of coffee.

The Kotowa family was the biggest winner of Best of Panama in 2012, winning a total of five batches. And duncan Manor, founded in 1913, is located in the area of about 1700 meters above sea level. Bogwett called Volancito, cool at night without frost damage, daily dry sunshine is deeply affected by the micro-climate of the intersection of Pacific and western airflow, the growing period of Rain Water is abundant, and the dry and wet seasons are distinct; in addition, the lava in the volcanic zone is affected by the micro climate of fertile black soil and good air flow intersection, Rain Water is abundant and has distinct dry and wet seasons during the growing period. The unique growth conditions make the great Panamanian coffee. In addition, the estate is also a well-known boutique coffee estate in Panama, which was awarded the cleanest environmental industry by the Panamanian national authorities in 2006.

Duncan Manor is about 1650-1750 meters above sea level, located in the west side of the Poquet producing area next to the Balu volcano (Boquete), cool at night without frost damage, dry and sunny during the day, deeply affected by the micro-climate of the Pacific and Atlantic airflow rendezvous, with abundant rainfall during the growing period and a clear dry and wet rainy season; in addition, the lava in the volcanic zone is rich in minerals, fertile volcanic black nutrients are abundant, good drainage is also quite good, and unique wind and soil conditions.

According to the characteristics of Arabica species, the quality of Yugao coffee usually increases at altitude, because high altitude leads to a drop in average temperature. Although the quality is improved, the coffee harvest will decrease, and the key altitude is 1200 meters. Received the influence of the temperature change in the planting area, when the temperature decreased, the quality of coffee increased progressively, but the low temperature should not be lower than 12 degrees Celsius, the high temperature should not be higher than 30 degrees Celsius, and the manor was at 1800 meters. A greenhouse was designed to grow coffee seedlings. Four different microclimates were used to test different heights and rainfall patterns to study the effect of temperature on coffee flavor. These results were then collaborated with Dave University University to study and evaluate the effects of coffee genes on quality and flavor under different variables.

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