Panama - Geisha M59, Abu Coffee

Jose Luttrell is the founder of Abu Coffee. He was already successful as an engineer, usually in the city and traveling overseas for work, when his father took him to revisit their family's farmlands in Boquete. This sparked his interest in specialty coffee which, in time, grew into a passion.

It was after his father passed away that Jose took a deep dive into producing specialty coffee and when Abu Coffee was established. Abu (short for abuelo) was the affectionate nickname Jose's children had for their grandfather. By producing distinct and excellent coffees that could not have been grown elsewhere, and sharing them with the world, they keep his memory, and his love for coffee and Boquete alive.

Abu Coffee started to become known when they won 6th place in the Geisha Washed category at the 2017 Best of Panama Competition. Their Geishas have been winning yearly at the BoP from then on. In 2021, Catuai lots they produced were also awarded in the Varietal Natural and Varietal Washed categories.

These consecutive BoP wins are recognized as a particularly noteworthy achievement because Abu Coffee has been in operation for less than a decade, and is much younger than most of the producers in Panama's premier coffee-growing zone.

Abu Coffee is situated in Cañas Verdes, Boquete, which benefits from a tropical forest microclimate. The coffee trees are cultivated at an average elevation of 1,550 MASL on the inclines of the Volcán Barú National Park, where the rich biodiversity is well-protected. Soils are fertile, deep, well-draining, and of volcanic origin.

There is a good balance of shade from native trees, and sunlight due to the estate's location. There is also the right amount of moisture from a light tropical mist in the daytime and denser fog at dusk. These conditions help the cherries' maturation process, such that sugars intensify and enrich the beans' flavor.

The legendary Panama Geisha variety is acclaimed for its sweet florality and bright overtones. Since its debut win at the Best of Panama auction in 2004, it has kept specialty coffee lovers everywhere captivated by its delicacy, complexity, and clarity of flavors. As such, it is often showcased on coffee competition stages by a great number of coffee champions, and it also continues to fetch the highest prices.

The esteemed status of the Panama Geisha is also due to its scarcity, owing to the variety’s unique genetics (responsible for its exceptional cup quality) that allows it to capture the best features of the Boquete terroir, and that are not shared by Geisha grown in other origins. The plants also require longer time to grow and more diligent care due to their delicate root systems. And, since Geisha trees have wide branch spans, they need to be spaced farther apart in the farm, resulting in less cherries per hectare at harvest.

At the Abu Coffee farm in Canas Verdes, ripening takes nine to ten months, and two to three months to complete the harvesting process — all by hand-collection. Further, because the trees are very tall, hand-collecting the perfectly ripe cherries requires even the most seasoned pickers to exert more effort.

For Lot M-59, the cherries were carefully hand-picked at optimum maturation, and then hand-sorted and floated in mountain spring water. They then underwent a dry fermentation process on African raised beds, under the sun, for 35 days.