Producer: Kyle Snider Farm: Tierra Blanca Coffee Location: Tierras Altas, Volcan Chiriqui, Panama Variety: Geisha Process: Washed Altitude: 1,800 masl Fermentation ▪▫▫▫▫ Sweetness ▪▪▪▪▫ Acidity ▪▪▪▪▫ Roast ▪▪▫▫▫ Tierra Blanca, founded by friends Kyle Snider and Larry Kolek, placed 5th in the Geisha Washed Category and 13th in the Geisha Natural Category at the 2024 Best of Panama, affirming the benefits of the care and dedication they have devoted to both the land and its people since 2017. While Kyle and Larry initially acquired agricultural upland real estate in Tierras Altas, Volcán, Chiriquí, with the straightforward objective of getting optimal returns on their investment, their aim has since evolved beyond achieving business goals. The true impact of their participation in top-tier Panama Geisha production speaks to their intent and commitment to enriching the local community, whose coffee knowledge and expertise in farming and post-harvest processing enable their plantations to be productive and sustainable, allowing Tierra Blanca to contribute to reinforcing the country’s elevated standing in the global coffee industry. Panama Geisha is a rare, delicate, and complex variety well-loved for its sweet florality and citrus highlights. Since its debut win at the Best of Panama auction in 2004, it has kept specialty coffee lovers everywhere captivated by its endless possibilities, delicacy, complexity, and clarity of flavors. As such, it is often showcased on coffee competition stages by a great number of coffee champions, and it also continues to fetch the highest prices. While a coffee’s truest intrinsic qualities are still largely believed to be showcased best by traditional washed processing due to the demucilaging, washing, and scrubbing steps removing all traces of fruit from the bean, the acquired expertise of award-winning emergent producers like the Tierra Blanca team allows them to direct the flavor character of the Panama Geisha towards a seemingly endless diversity of delightfully surprising trajectories through innovative techniques.