Cafés in Panama Panama City

From Portobelo to the slopes of Barú

Coffee was first planted at Portobelo, on the Caribbean coast in Colón, between 1780 and 1790, and Boquete in Chiriquí became the turning point; it is also grown in the Canal watershed and in parts of Veraguas and Darién.¹ In the highlands of Chiriquí, the province bordering Costa Rica, Geisha grows above 1,600 m on the slopes of Volcán Barú, and coffee is picked from December to April, mostly by Ngäbe-Buglé Indigenous workers.⁷

The Boquete district, created in 1911, lies 35 km north of David at 1,000–2,800 m.⁸ Its Festival del Café began in 1950; after the flood of April 9, 1970 it was suspended, and in 1973 it returned as the Feria de las Flores y del Café, held in the first weeks of January.⁸

How Geisha came to Boquete

The Geisha variety was collected in Ethiopia's coffee forests in the 1930s, passed through the Lyamungu research station in Tanzania and reached CATIE, the Central American research center, in 1953.⁴ CATIE distributed it across Panama in the 1960s for its tolerance of leaf rust, but its brittle branches kept farmers from planting much of it.⁴

The Peterson family bought Hacienda La Esmeralda in Palmira, Boquete, in 1967 and in 1997 added the Jaramillo farm on Barú's slopes, where Geisha trees had resisted rust; they planted more above 1,650 m, and in 2004 their Geisha won Best of Panama and set a record auction price.⁵ Geisha needs cool temperatures above 1,400 m and yields 500–1,000 pounds per hectare.⁶

The competition is run by the Specialty Coffee Association of Panama (SCAP). Its 30th edition, in 2026, drew 102 lots of 30 kg from 47 producers, split into washed Geisha, natural Geisha and other varieties; SCAP's president said heavy rain followed by drought had cut the specialty crop to about half its usual size.²

Café Durán and the Panamanian cup

Panama's best-known coffee brand began in a general store. Esteban Durán Amat, a Spanish immigrant who arrived in 1906, started roasting the green coffee people brought him at Gorgona, and Café Durán was founded on April 27, 1907; in 2008 it held 70% of the local market against more than 40 brands.⁹ When the Americans announced that the canal works would flood Gorgona, the family moved the business to Panama City, renting two wooden houses at Avenida Central and Calle 16.¹⁰

Panamanians drink less coffee than people assume, Esther Arjona told La Estrella in 2022; some take it only in the morning, and café culture made the cappuccino, latte and espresso familiar before filter methods followed.¹¹ On the delivery app PedidosYa, coffee orders rose 33% in two years; cappuccino, latte and frappuccino lead, and orders peak on Saturdays at 09:00.¹

Panama City

In the Casco Antiguo, the colonial old town, Café Coca Cola, at Avenida Central and Calle 12, opened in 1875; it was called Nueve Puertas until 1906, when it took the name of the newly arrived soft drink, and coffee remains its best seller.¹³

Café Unido opened its first shop in 2014, founded by Benito Bermúdez and Mario Castrellón; at the time, Bermúdez said, many Panamanians were not used to specialty coffee, and most Panamanian specialty lots are exported to Asia and elsewhere.¹² By 2022, Giancarlo Effio said, up to five specialty cafés were opening a year, against up to two before, and local drinkers favor Caturra, Catuaí, Pacamara and Bourbon.¹¹