WORLD STAGE-WORTHY 🇵🇦

Pristine Panama Geisha from the Janson Coffee Family

Heart-stirring and spirit-lifting — meet 5 new pristine expressions of variety and terroir art from the Janson Coffee family.

2023 has so far been a hallmark year for Kai Janson, Jannette Janson, and the rest of the Janson coffee family. The Jansons were part of that dream team who took home the top trophy at the 2023 World Barista Championship, with a Janson Geisha at the core of the winning routine, as well as podium finishers at the 2023 World Brewers Cup. 

At the Best of Panama 2023, Janson Geisha Natural ranked 3rd, while Geisha Washed placed 5th, for sure, with hosts of global roasters and coffee connoisseurs worldwide barely able to wait for their chance to bid at the Best of Panama Auction slated for late August 2023!

Now, into the 4th year of our flourishing coffee friendship with the Jansons, we're grateful they have entrusted us again with modest quantities of their Las Lagunas and Los Alpes Panama Geisha. 

These allow us to proudly continue playing a part in enriching their decades-long family legacy through five new natural-processed, exclusive lots in our Competition Series, which we're all the more thrilled about because they let us share the sheer bliss of the rarefied sensory experience only the Panama Geisha can bring with you.

From Las Lagunas

Partners in Delivering Consistently High Quality

As ardent coffee lovers running a coffee business, we are careful to strike a balance between two key things — (1) what most of our clients and consumers currently understand and want with (2) what we strongly feel they deserve, which are the finest coffees — based on what we have learned and tasted throughout all our time as passionate coffee professionals. 

Some of those higher-end specialty coffees we have been sourcing for the past years and have found consistently impressive are from Janson Coffee, produced by the Janson family.

Janson Coffee was founded by brothers Michael, Carl, Ricardo, and Peter Janson in the 1990s, inspired by their father's dedication to hard work, exceptional quality, and love for their land. Their father was Carl Axel Janson, a Swedish immigrant, who acquired the property in 1941 and established a cattle farm with his wife, Peggy.

Kai had been based in the United States in the mid-2000s and working in coffee when he returned to their homestead in Panama to support his father, Carl, in conducting the family business. Jannette, meanwhile, grew up in Volcan but had been engaged in a corporate career abroad when she heeded the call to come back home in the late 2010s and follow in her father, Michael's footsteps. 

Kai considers his and Jannette’s generation as "keepers of the land" that his grandfather, father, and uncles have toiled to enrich and safeguard for future generations of Jansons and the families of workers who have come to rely on their farms as a healthy and viable source of livelihood. For Jannette, what truly makes Panama Geisha special is that it keeps families together and their family traditions intact.

Raising the Energy Around Specialty Coffee

At our February 2023 Producer’s Talk, when Kai shared his thoughts on how he sees specialty coffee evolving, we gained insight into the impetus for the innovations at Janson Coffee that result in the fascinating flavor profiles in our cup. What he said also lightly touched on the consumer's role in shaping the future of specialty coffee. 

He told us, "It's an amazing ride — to see coffee grow and the energy around coffee… Our intention is, how do you create a coffee that is so fruity that you know it's a natural, and so powerful you know it's anaerobic, and so clean and gorgeous that it's like a classic washed — all in one cup, and at different points in the cup…if you're paying attention, you'll see that." He also mentioned that brewing plays a large part in upholding quality.

When we asked what's on the horizon for Janson Coffee, Kai shared that their goal is to keep raising the energy around coffee. We took this to mean: continuing to chase excellence in coffee quality and keeping everyone excited about it by creating genuine relationships and fun shared experiences with the coffee people they encounter.