FARM TO CUP
Finca Santa Teresa is a boutique coffee farm and mill located high in the cloud forest of Panama. FST sits close to the border with Costa Rica and Panama’s highest peak, the Volcan Baru. Adjacent is La Amistad National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
FST produces coffees of singular quality. The key to this is terroir – rich volcanic soils, high altitude, weather systems driven by the Pacific and Atlantic and a series of ridges and valleys. The result is coffee redolent of honeysuckle, lychee and strawberries.
The coffee produced by FST is the antithesis of monolithic simplicity.
Between November and February, coffee is picked from the 20 different lots on the farm. Soon after picking, the coffee is processed using one of three main processing methods – washed, honey or natural. Depending on the method, this can see the coffee drying on raised beds (known as Camas Africanas) for up to a month.
In the same way that wine grapes come in different varietals, so too does coffee. Coffea Arabica has literally dozens of varietals – Caturra, Catuai, Bourbon, Pacamara – and perhaps most famous of all, Geisha.
Geisha originally came to Panama from Ethiopia in the twentieth century as part of efforts to find disease resistant fruit.
The result was serendipity – the unique terroir of the Panama coffee region speaking to the Geisha varietal to produce the most beautiful coffee in the world. Geisha is now the “go to” coffee in specialty coffee competitions internationally and is found on the menus of the most discerning coffee houses and fine dining establishments around the world.
Drag the map below to explore and press on the pins to find out more.
Camas Africanas are raised timber drying beds that are used to dry the honey and natural preps. This takes anywhere from 10 days up to a month.
The coffee from FST is harvested and prepared to bring out the individual flavour profiles from each of our microlots.
The river (Quebrada La Llorona) is our source of water. We use it in accordance with an approval from the Panamanian environmental agency.
The mill is the heart of the farm, it is here that the coffee is delivered and processed, where the coffee is sampled.
We offer a school for the young children of families who work on the farm each harvest. In 2016 this school was rebuilt and we work with the charity Casa Espreranza and the local hospital in Volcan in order to continually improve education and health outcomes.
£300 + postage
An exclusive set of 110 limited edition coffee boxes, hand-painted by renowned contemporary British artist Jeremy Houghton. Inside is 500g of the rarest and most beautiful Geisha coffee in the world. Only 378 kg of this coffee has been produced, and it is only available in this box and at the racing in Bermuda. Each of the 110 unique boxes is numbered and signed by Jeremy. The box is handmade in England and shows our support for Land Rover BAR with 10% of sales going to the 1851 Trust. FST is proud to be a Base Supplier to Land Rover BAR, the British Challenger for the 35th America’s Cup.
We sell green bean all over the world, and you can find some of our customers below.
Consumer demand for provenance, authenticity and traceability in all things has never been greater. We hope to make this farm to cup experience a reality. In the UK we are working directly with some amazing customers. We are providing Geisha direct to the 2017 Obsession event at Northcote. We are also proud to be a Base Supplier to the Land Rover BAR team.
We were also delighted to have some of the team from The Fat Duck restaurant visit FST in 2016 and three of our finest Geisha coffees are now on their incredible coffee menu.
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