Panamanian Coffee Ilieta Manor with unique geographical environment introduces the flavor and taste of Panamanian coffee

The unique geographical environment of ●

Central America is a long isthmus from northern Mexico to southern Colombia, connecting North and South America. Panama is located in the southernmost part of Central America, so the country runs from east to west, not from north to south as people think. This means that the coast of the Caribbean (Atlantic) is in its north, while the Pacific is in the south.

Panama is by far the narrowest country that shares the Atlantic and Pacific coastlines. And this has a far-reaching impact on coffee production. In the coffee-producing region of Chiriqu í, the hometown of world-renowned estates such as Hacienda La Esmeralda, Elida Estate, Finca Nuguo, and Finca La Mula, the marine climate is a huge system covering the entire hemisphere only 60-70 km from the ocean. Other currents in the Caribbean originate as far away as Iceland, while some east-west currents in the Pacific Ocean originate half a world away off the coasts of Japan and Indonesia. On the island of Panama, which is less than 100 kilometers wide, these global climate systems intertwined and collided, creating amazing microclimate change. The wind swirled and changed direction; it rained without warning, and the clouds floated on the hills with fog and ice rain.

In the middle of these chaotic climates, Willem Boot, the boutique coffee farm in Panama, and the owners of two Panamanian farms, Finca Som í an and Finca La Mula, are also award-winning varieties of rosy summer coffee. In February 2015, I went to Finca La Mula Manor with the professional manager of Boot, along with my friend Kelly Hartmann, a Panamanian native. In summer in Panama, the climate from January to April is much drier than when I first visited Panama. But Boot reminds me that when you get to the farm, you will find that "dry" is only relative. "this is basically a forest in the clouds, and when the clouds come, the temperature will drop sharply." This is how Boot describes it. We climbed the steep hillside of the manor and passed through the thick clouds, which covered everything that La Mula was a dense forest and huge shade trees covered most of the planting area. There is also a second layer of shade trees that grow lower than them, and under this vault are rosy summer coffee trees that have a unique flavor because of the environment.

Boot told us: "if the cloud period is regular and becomes a regular phenomenon, it shows that it can cause some unique situations for trees." Especially in the presence of fruit trees, plants will respond to the environment and adjust themselves. When there is no sunlight, the leaves get a higher water supply, and the photosynthesis of the trees is slow, which lengthens the ripening period of cherries, making the flavor stronger, especially in terms of sweetness and acidity. " So will humidity make it more difficult to grow? "it doesn't matter," Boot said. "We want these unique things to happen, and that's what makes them unique."

The thick forest ensures that the clouds can last on the hillside. Under the combined action of trees and clouds, combined with high altitude, the coffee can grow in a cool and humid environment. Finca Nuguo Manor has performed even better on the world coffee stage, except for some coffee that won the senior competition, which is the source of beans used in the 2016 US barista champion Lemuel Butler competition. Finca Nuguo Manor is located in Chiriqu í in western Panama, close to the Costa Rican border.

"it's raining hard here, and even in the dry season, Rain Water continues to be here." Jos é Gallardo, the owner of Finca Nuguo, said, "I think these trees will love the rain, which means the nutrition will be good all year round." Water brings all the nutrients of the year to the root layer of the tree.