Tour of the Americas – Late December 2013
Coffee Shangri-La, Finca Esmeralda, Boquete – Panama.
In the last days of December, Price Peterson and his son Daniel were so kind to welcome my group including Professor Flavio Borem from UNILAVRAS, Juan Gimenes and Jack Robson from NUCOFFEE – Brazil and myself.
The purpose of our visit was to learn about the fabulous Geisha plants and Peterson’s agricultural management. This is the coffee that has reached the highest scores and prices in the records of coffee trade. What is it that provides such a differential and repeated success and can we expect more of such coffees in the future? Our list of questions was quite big and we received detailed answers to every one of them. Price Peterson is a firm believer of sharing his experience and opinion.
During our visit, we were offered a tour down the plantation starting at 1.800 meters altitude and down towards the 1.600. Price and Daniel were our guides and at every10 yards, there was a stop for new questions and discussions, this was in fact a high level and enlightened opportunity. I certainly learned so much about coffee during those hours of the visit than ever before, I must remind you that I was an eager spectator listening to Price Peterson, Professor Borem and Juan Gimenes exchanging experiences with the coffee plants that provide the highest quality and prices ever registered!
The Peterson’s were the most open hearted and impressive hosts. I call this farm the Coffee “Shangri-La” for the simple reason that it has reborn and preserved the original high quality potential of this secular “Wild” varietal that came from Ethiopia.
Price Peterson and his family have put everything together and are now improving the varietal potential; we should expect further higher scoring Hacienda Esmeralda Geisha green beans in the harvests to come.
We left the farm and Boquete with no unanswered questions. We learned that to produce this high quality you have to be there, have the best Geisha trees, plant them in the correct spots, manage the plantation with care and technology, harvest and dry the beans perfectly.
There are another 200 points Mr. Peterson explained to us but these seem too many to report on, I suggest that anyone interested in learning more contact the Peterson’s at www.haciendaesmeralda.com.
Thanks Price and Daniel, have a great 2014 season!
Christian
