Panama - Carmen Estate Caturra Lot 6 | Washed

About the Coffee

Carmen Estate was founded in 1960 by Efrain and Carmen Franceschi as a single farm and mill in Panama. Now in its third generation of family ownership, the estate was acquired by Panama Red Carmen Café Trading and is currently overseen by production manager Jean Paul Jangenstein Wachter and owner Carlos Aguilera. The farm sits in Panama's highlands, where Caturra (a compact, high-yielding variety of Arabica) is grown and milled on-site.

Each harvest, coffee cherries are handpicked by the Ngäbe-Buglé indigenous people, who are trained to select only fully ripe, bright red cherries and leave unripe fruit on the branch for a later pass. The farm manages ecological stewardship across four areas: insect management, soil conservation, water resource protection, and waste management. After picking, the cherries are processed using a washed method, meaning the fruit is removed and the beans are fermented and cleaned with water before drying, which tends to produce a cleaner, more defined cup.

Carmen Estate has consistently placed in the top five at specialty cupping competitions. In 2023, it took Best of Panama in the Washed Category at a record price of US$10,500 per kilogram. This lot, Lot 6, is a Caturra variety processed through the estate's own mill.