We have bought coffee from Panama for many years. Our sourcing includes microlots—small, separately kept batches from a single farm or plot—from Boquete and Volcán. These relationships span family farms, experimental processing and a project working to pay local growers more for their cherries.

Organized coffee growing in Chiriquí dates to the 1890s, when settlers from the United States and Europe planted highland farms. Some local families trace their coffee roots further back.

After the international coffee quota system collapsed in 1989, falling prices brought years of crisis. In the mid-1990s, producers formed a specialty coffee association and launched Best of Panama, pursuing quality over volume. Geisha’s auction success in the mid-2000s helped expand that approach.

Coffee leaf rust, erratic rainfall and drought have since damaged harvests. The industry relies heavily on Indigenous Ngäbe harvest workers, while many Ngäbe-Buglé people also travel to Costa Rica for seasonal work. Development programs have begun supporting Indigenous farmers with agroforestry and climate-resilient farming.