International  judges choose Panama’s new king of geisha

The annual Best of Panama tasting has produced a  new king of Geisha coffee which last year was auctioned for a record price of $1,029  a pound. This year’s auction will be in  September.

The tasting was to have taken place in May, drawing tasters from around the world to Panama. but in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic was delayed until July and the Panama Specialty Coffee Association organized for the first time a virtual tasting with judges in 17  laboratories in 8 countries participating.

 With a score of 95.01 points out of 100, Hellen Russell and Willem J. Boot’s Olympus Geisha Wash lot took first place in the Geisha Wash category earning them The Panama Cup Champion award.

Judges in  Australia, the United States, Europe and participated to validate the production process in the coffee farms of the Highlands of Chiriquí and submit to rigorous testing of the selected batches.

Samples of the best quality batches, selected from the natural and washed geisha, traditional natural and washed, and pacamara categories, were sent to each international judge. 

The treatment of the samples sent required a titanic effort to preserve the qualities of the grain.

Best of Panama is the most important contest in the Panamanian coffee environment presenting the best of local coffee in world markets. 

The Geisha Black Jaguar Natural Limited lot of Tessie Palacios de Hartman -Area of ​​Los Pozos de Volcán and Santa Clara de Renacimiento- obtained 94.71 points and won first place in the natural geisha and process segments.

In the pacamera category, the first place went to the Janson Estate Pacamara lot, by Family Janson, with 90.47 points. 

The first place In traditional natural and process coffees was won by the Mama Cata Mokkita Process batch, by Teodoro Garrido. His rating: 90.88.

In traditional washing, the first place went to the Carmen Gran Reserva de Panamá batch Red Carmen Café Trading SA with 89.29.

It was a long and rigorous process in which Panama demonstrated the quality of its high altitude grains, after submitting itself to international judges under the leadership of Australian Will Young, along with judges from Taiwan, China, Korea, Japan, the United States, and Hong Kong.

The Association of Special Cafes of Panama (SCAP).is now starting another process, packing the samples of the winning lots to send them to the buyers registered in the global electronic auction planned for September 16, In this auction, the participants start again from scratch. Not necessarily the ones that got the highest scores in Best of Panama, will achieve the best price.

The world record for a Panamanian specialty coffee was obtained at Best of Panama 2019 when the Elida Geisha of the Lamastus family reached a score of 95.25 on a scale of 100 points.

The production of the family continues to be among the best. This year, in the Geishas Washed category, with 94 points, Lamatus Family’s Elida Greentip Geisha Washed lot took second place.