Kotowa. Panama. Caturra. Natural. 

Every bean has a story
This is a new collaboration for us - a wonderful natural Caturra from Kotowa farm and Familia Koyner in Boquete, Panama.

KOTOWA COFFEE

The name KOTOWA comes from the indigenous word meaning “mountains.” The Kotowa Farms are
named in honour of the family's grandfather Alexander Duncan Macintyre, who started the family's coffee business.

Sometime in the early 1900s, Alexander read an article about a region called Boquete, in a distant Central American country called Panama. He read about the mountains surrounding a mysterious volcano, an unexplored region with a consistently cool climate. His curiosity led him to visit the region. There he fell in love with the area, the people, and the magic of the valley. For four generations, Alexander's family has cultivated and processed coffee in the same traditional way and proudly offers a truly special coffee.

PROCESSING

During the harvest, the team carefully selects the cherries to be processed for pulping. They use modern equipment and techniques with the clean, crystal-clear waters of the natural springs in the area. They slowly dry the beans in the sun at an altitude of 1,700 meters or in equipment at no more than 45 degrees Celsius, designed to preserve quality and flavor. The team patiently waits at least two months for the coffee to “rest” in their warehouses, a process that allows the flavours and aromas of the coffee to mature. Finally, they carefully separate the beans by size, colour, and weight for roasting. Each batch of each day undergoes a tasting to determine if it meets “KOTOWA” quality standard.

Their production and processing are always carried out with the environment in mind. The team only uses half a liter of water per kilogram of dry coffee processed, well below the averages of other countries. All by-products of the process are converted into compost to be used as organic fertilizer on their Farm. They protect the virgin forests around us by ensuring that there are no fires during the dry season. They do not allow hunting or environmental degradation.

The area around the farm is the natural habitat of many migratory and local birds. To ensure that they can continue to live around us, the family have planted more than 500 native fruit trees, which are the basis of their diet. For their employees, they have a daycare center where they provide free food and education to the  children of our harvesters. This, has earned them recognition for their efforts to eradicate child labor.

We are big fans of Panamian coffees, so check out our other ones here.