Devoted to specialty.

There's more to Panama than the canal and entertainer Ruben Blades. Coffee, which was once a much more important crop, is making a comeback, and Cafe Volcan Baru, S.A, one of the first beneficios designed and built strictly for specialty coffee, is leading the way. Hacienda Cafetalera, S.A. which is planting a conservative 15 hectares a year in coffee on a level plateau over 4,000 feet in elevation will be providing at least one estate coffee for the new mill to process.

Brothers Carl and Ricardo Janson, who operate Cafe Volcan Baru, S.A. in Panama, just finished construction of their new beneficio. This facility incorporates many of the latest refinement in coffee processing; their goal, however, is to operate this state-of-the-art facility with craftsmanship worthy of the old world. Their beneficio can process several coffees at once while keeping them separate, allowing them to proces coffees from several different estates.

Carl and Ricardo's brother's are also in the coffee business: Michael and Peter Janson operate a farm, Hacienda Cafetalera, S.A. which is close to the beneficio. They are trying to produce a very high quality estate S.H.B. Panamanian coffee. Being from the opposite side of Volcan Baru (an inactive volcano) from where Boquete coffees come from, the coffee is somewhat different in character to the Panamas that most specialty roasters are used to.

In preliminary cuppings, the Baru coffees have been much more full bodied with good acidity and a straightforward and delicious flavor profile which lacks any intense overtones unlike the wineyness of Kenyas or the spicey smokiness of Guatemalas.

Carl and Michael live on the farm, with Carl providing on-site management for the beneficio while Michael manages the farm. The other two brothers live in Panama City. Peter is the financial comptroller of the farming company, while Ricardo, head of marketing for the largest brewery in Panama, lends his expertise in that field to the beneficio. Carol who founded and still owns a large shipping agency from which he is now retired, also has expertise in shipping cargo to exact specifications. "We will be loading our shipments at the beneficio and sealing the containers here. Further, our containers will be thoroughly washed and lined before they are loaded," Carl noted.

When asked why all four brothers didn't simply join together in developing the beneficio and farm Carl Janson responded, "We see the farm and beneficio as two very different businesses with different problems and different goals. Despite the fact that we buy the coffee from farmers for the beneficio we also see them as our clients who come to us to maximize the value of their crop through expert processing. This is what Ricky and I need to focus on. Peter and Michael, on the other hand are dedicated simply to growing the best tasting coffee they can, they, like many other farmers in the area, will bring it to us for processing."

Hacienda Cafetalera, one of only 4,000 coffee farms in the country, is situated in the extreme western part of Panama, just 25 miles from the Costa Rican border. The volcano Baru, which has been dormant for over 2,000 years, peaks at 11,560 feet. Hacienda Cafetalera is on the southwestern slope at about 4,500 feet, an ideal altitude with fine volcanic soil well suited for growing Arabica beans. Presently about 130 acres of the 2,200 acre farm are devoted to coffee, with plans to expand to 750 in the near future, and coffee tree varieties include typica, catuai, and catimore, with the majority of the farm planted in catuai.

"The catimore planting is strictly experimental at this point," Michael noted, "The bulk of our production will come from catuai over the next few years."

Comparative cuppings using early production samples of typica and catuai have had some surprising results. Michael summed up the findings this way, "We hear from many roasters that they want typica beans but in out cupping results we find that the taste profile they are looking for is actually found in the catuai production. It is early to tell but I believe that the typica tree may need more time to produce a full-flavored hybrid, but for the time being the catuai production is just as clean tasting with greater body and acidity than the typica samples."

In a phone call from Panama, Michael describes the farm: "We are in a brand new area which has never been planted with coffee. We're at the right altitude, and in a dryer area, which is good for the coffee's flavor. This used to be pasture land 20 years ago. After the coup 22 years ago, we let the land rest. It was secondary forest, and it's now being converted to coffee farming. We're on the Pacific side, with no rains from the Atlantic. My brother's new mill makes better coffee because of the way they wash the coffee with spring water from our own springs, and we use sun drying when possible."

Panama has been a relatively minor player in the world coffee market, ranking 16th among the Americas, 34th in the world in coffee production. Part of that is because much of Panama's land was cleared for cattle nearly a century ago. The country's total crop is only about 220,000 60 kilo bags, 150,000 of which are sold to France, Finland, the United States and Canada. Cafe Volcan Baru's total crop is less than 300 bags this year; the beneficio will turn out a total of 2000 bags in 1994, aiming for yearly production of 12,000 bags within the next few years.

The Janson brothers inherited the land from their father, who had founded it after jumping ship in Panama many decades back, and then falling in love with the country and staying on, starting many successful businesses and fathering eleven children. Coffee was first grown in this fertile area in the early 40's, but the area was turned over to cattle and agriculture for many years before coffee was brought back. At one point, the Jansons' father had imported a her of Brangus cattle from the United States to raise high grade beef in the semi-tropical climate (Brangus is a cross between Brahmin and Angus). Careful crop rotation and the use of kidney beans for natural nitrogen keep the soil healthy and free from harmful bacteria, nematodes and diseases. It's an ecologically conscious operation, and water used in pulping is treated to remove excess nitrogen before it is returned to the land. The Janson brothers continually experiment with different varieties of coffee trees, always seeking ways to improve their already excellent coffee.

Laborers for the farm are members of the Guaymi Indian tribe from the nearby town of Volcan. These workers harvest crop by hand. The cherries are brought to the beneficio, where the coffee is processed by the wet method, commencing with a green bean separator and depulping machine which removes the pulp from the bean without harming it. Beans are then transported by gravity and water flow through channels called cuellos de ganso ("goose necks" for the curves in the channels), which sort the beans by density into three categories; the higher density beans yielding better flavor. Because the Volcan Baru farm is fairly flat, all beans are grown at the same altitude, eliminating the variations in bean density so common to farms where beans are grown on slopes ranging thousands of feet up and down.

Sophisticated & Traditional

Cafe Volcan Baru screens and gravity sorts the beans extensively, making them unique among Panamanian coffee millers. After fermentation, the remaining mucilage is washed off by hand, and again the beans are sorted and classified. Both sophisticated technology and hand sorting are used, and every step in the process is gentle on the beans.

Cafe Volcan Baru beans are dried in the sun on concrete and then stored for several months before further processing. Finally, they are dehulled, classified yet again by size, classified by density, inspected by hand for defects and packed in burlap for shipping and export. It's a long and carefully monitored journey, from planting the seedlings, tending the soil, picking the crop by hand and sorting, cleaning and processing the beans, that leads to Hacienda Cafetalera's Estate Coffee.

Michael is optimistic about the future. "This is only our first crop, with coffee from young trees. As good as it is now, it will get better each year as the trees get older."

Four Entrepreneurial Brothers

With the relatively small production of Cafe Volcan Baru and Hacienda Cafetalera it can be said that the existence of this processing facility and farm are not of great significance in terms of the world market. In terms of output this is certainly true. What is of more significance, however, is that four entrepreneurial brothers not previously involved in coffee decided to establish two coffee production companies devoted strictly to specialty coffee after over five years of record lows in the coffee market. This news is significant, particularly if they succeed and others follow.

We've heard a lot about abandoned farms throughout the coffee producing world, ventures such as these should calm the hearts of many growing specialty roasters worried as to whether they will have decent coffee to roast five years from now.

Ruben Blades, by the way, in addition to being one of Panama's most famous musicians is also running for President, and according to recent polls is leading a rather large field. No one is willing to say this is merely an expression of protest by those polled or whether he will actually be a serious contender in the election; after all, he might win.