Best of Panama - Santamaria, Geisha Natural - 08

Santa Maria Estate Coffee in Paso Ancho, Chiriqui began their winning streak at the Best of Panama in 2017 when they placed 3rd in both Geisha Natural and Geisha Washed categories. In 2024, by achieving 8th Place Geisha Natural and 9th Place Varietals at the Best of Panama 2024, Edwin Santamaria and his son Edwin Jr. continue to build on the estate’s nearly 75-year legacy.

It's an agricultural legacy pioneered by the estate's patriarch and founder, Don Urbano Santamaria in the 1950s, which was developed with the drive of his most trusted kin, Jose Luis in the 1980s, and then inevitably brought into the global coffee community’s adoring attention following decades of diligent care for the inherently pristine cultivation environment and vision-focused processing, spearheaded by Edwin who took the reins in the 1990s.

While the Santamaria family exemplifies the intergenerational stewardship of nature required to consistently produce exceptional coffees—a hallmark of the Best of Panama’s most recognized coffee legacies— their estate also embodies deep-rooted family values of dedication, passion, and accountability that underpin their purposeful pursuit of excellence.

Panama Geisha is a rare, delicate, and complex variety well-loved for its sweet florality and citrus highlights. Since its debut win at the Best of Panama auction in 2004, it has kept specialty coffee lovers everywhere captivated by its endless possibilities, 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.

While a coffee’s truest intrinsic qualities are still largely believed to be showcased best by traditional washed processing due to the demucilaging, washing, and scrubbing steps removing all traces of fruit from the bean, the expertise of seasoned and passionate producers like Santamaria Family allows them to direct the flavor character of the Panama Geisha towards a seemingly endless diversity of delightfully surprising trajectories.

They do this through the purposeful implementation of traditional methods like the natural and honey processes, as well as intentional and innovative processing styles.