Trip to Panama

Boquete is a popular tourist destination for anyone visiting the far West of Panama. Close to the city of David and the Costa Rican border, it nestles in the mountains. Boquete actually means "hole in the ground" and as you approach it along the twisting road, it does suddenly appear beneath you in a natural crater. The surrounding hills are planted with coffee plantations, for which it is famous. One of the "must see" things on your list should be a tour of a coffee plantation.

Coffee Adventures offer a complete pick-up service and a detailed tour of the Kotowa Plantation, which lasts approx 3 hours. The tour started out among the coffee trees where we saw for the first time how small a coffee tree can be, and how the beans develop in an extraordinary way all along the branches. It is not like any other tree I have ever seen. As the beans develop at different rates, ripening and picking was a continuous process from October to April, so mechanical picking, like grapes is not possible, so it is still done by hand. Even when I visited in late May there was still plenty to see.

The guide, Hans van der Vooren, lives on his own coffee plantation “Finca Habbus de Kwie” so his knowledge was first hand and very informative. He was happy to answer all our questions as we went along which made it a very individual and personalised tour. A Dutch ex-Pat, he spoke excellent English as he told the story of the Kotowa Plantation from its humble beginnings at the hands of a Canadian, Alexander Duncan MacIntyre, who actually gave up being Mayor of Vancouver and came to Boquete in 1918 to grow coffee. The business is still owned and run by the same family today.

Following the bean from picking through drying, sorting and roasting was a fascinating tale, and yet it was done mostly by hand with very simple equipment, largely unchanged since coffee first began. Learning about the different beans, the quality and the difference in roasting times (just 30 seconds takes a medium blend to fully roasted), was totally fascinating and Hans was happy to answer all our questions as the tour proceeded through the small buildings.

It was also interesting to learn how the resident workers live and work. Native Indians are used for labor, and the living conditions they enjoy are award-winning in the country. Despite all the mod-cons provided such as tap water, many still prefer to wash and bathe in the nearby stream, and continue to fill the houses with acrid smoke whilst cooking! The children all go to school on-site, which cleverly frees up the women to work and earn also. Seeing their colorful traditional dress and watching the children scamper shyly about the fields was an education for us too.

After touring the slopes and factory, right through to where the beans are bagged, the final part of the tour was spent in the restored cupping room of the original old mill, where we sat inhaling the aroma of freshly brewing coffee. Now we were able to put into practice our new knowledge as coffee tasters. We shook the ground coffee around in the cups to inhale the scents, much like in wine tasting. The mild roast certainly had the smell and taste of many fruits. Medium roast produced a more nutty taste, together with caramel and chocolate flavors, and the full roast lost most of the finer tastes in favor of chocolate, but was noticeably smoother. We then had the opportunity to buy some of the renowned Kotowa coffee, a great souvenir to take back home and an ideal gift for family and friends.

All that we heard, saw and experienced that morning at the Kotowa coffee plantation was an education which will stay with me and hopefully be recalled every time I choose my coffee beans. It was also good to be able to learn about and support the local industry which many families depend on for their living.

Labels: Boquete, Coffee plantation, Kotowa coffee, Panama, tour