INDUSTRY XXX PROFILE
Cup of gold Campos Coffee is releasing its most expensive coffee to date, Esmeralda Jaramillo from the 2019 Best of Panama, in single serves to make this Geisha experience available to anyone.
C
offee is often compared to wine. Both beverages originate from plants, can possess complex flavour profiles, and offer varying degrees of quality based on how they are produced and processed. The Bordeaux region of France is synonymous with high-quality wine, thanks largely to its ideal climate for growing grapes and the work of its producers. According to Will Young, CEO of Campos Coffee, if coffee was to have an equivalent, it would be the Baru Volcano area of Chiriqui province in Panama. “There are so many micro-climates in that area. You’ll be standing on one crest, watching a rainstorm one kilometre away that never touches where you are. It’s what happens when the climate is being affected by both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, because Panama is this skinny piece of land between the two,” Will says. “The Baru Volcano houses everything you need to grow stunning Panamanian coffee. When you mix in a varietal like Geisha, grown by the very best producers in separate micro-climates,
“THESE ARE THE ANCESTORS OF ALL THE COFFEES THAT ARE ROCKING IT RIGHT NOW, MAKING AN IMPACT ON COMPETITIONS AND THE ULTRAPREMIUM COFFEE CATEGORY.” this delivers the most complex coffees you can imagine.” While originating in Ethiopia, Geisha is now more commonly associated with Panama and was popularised at the 2004 Best of Panama (BOP) competition by the Peterson family of Hacienda La Esmeralda after its “rediscovery”. Rachel Peterson tells BeanScene when growing and selling Geisha, it’s important that the coffee achieves the qualities the varietal is known for. “Complex and intense aromatics are a must. It should always have florals in the cup, along with stone fruit notes, and should be sweet – from when it’s brewed until it’s stone cold,” Rachel says. Will and Campos have been involved
in the BOP since 2011, with Will appointed Head Judge in 2018. He has formed close, personal connections with Panama’s producers, the Petersons in particular. In 2019, Campos brought two of Hacienda La Esmeralda’s highest cup scoring coffees to Australia – Super Mario and Jaramillo. “It’s been 15 years since Esmeralda first introduced Geisha to us and it was from the Jaramillo farm that they found the first Geisha as we know it today,” Will says. “They could have kept it to themselves but instead decided what’s best for farmers and the wider industry was to share it with everyone else. It’s from those seeds that many of the astonishing prices and award-
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