Jason Johnson, a PT’s Coffee’s employee, was visiting Hacienda La Esmeralda during the auction.  Here is his first hand account:

I got up this morning at 6 am with nervous anticipation.  Daniel was picking me up around 7 and then we were going to the farm to watch the auction.  This year’s crop production was down because it was hit by some high winds, but there was also a new part of the farm that was producing enough to be sold as a separate lot for the first time, so there was a lot of excitement around that.

We got to the house and had a quick breakfast, then it was short walk to the office.  The auction began at 8:30 a.m., and it was obvious that there was not going to be a repeat of last year’s marathon.  People knew there wasn’t a lot of the Geisha, so no need to mess around.  As we watched the screen Daniel told me how the auction worked.  The Geisha was separated into 7 batches and those batches had various lots of 300 pounds, for a total of 47 lots or 14,100 pounds.  As we watched the prices go up across the board, Daniel Peterson was very excited.  In the next room all of the workers were talking excitedly in Spanish, and Rachel Peterson continued to message Daniel with things like “everything is above 20, unbelievable!!” The whole auction lasted for only a couple hours, but it must have seemed like years to the buyers.  The low coffee received an incredible $24 a pound and the high was $117.50.  After it was done, the family got together for lunch.  Monday the staff had asked if there was going to be a bonus this year, the answer at lunch was… “Yes!”

While you wait in eager anticipation of the new crop of Esmeralda Special, be sure to try out the current crop while it is still available!  You can purchase a bag here!

- Jason Johnson

The excitement level at the roasting facility always rises when we receive a large, white envelope (or box) filled to the brim with green coffee samples.  This white envelope represents a great potential; it represents the great potential for amazing coffee.  Needless to say, when said white envelope arrived from Hacienda La Esmeralda in Panama, a low buzz resonated among the staff.  “When are we going to cup the samples?  When is the auction?  How are these coffees going to compare to last year?  How will the newer harvest areas compare to the traditional Esmeralda Special areas?” 

For those of you who are unaware of the significance of samples from Hacienda La Esmeralda, let me fill you in on a little bit of the back-story.  In 1996 the Peterson Family bought a coffee farm in the Jaramillo region of Panama.  They knew that the farm contained many different varietals and that it produced an overall good quality cup.  In 2002, Daniel Peterson had the idea that the overall “good” quality of the cup might be due to one spectacular variety of coffee or area of the farm bringing up the overall quality of the cup.  That year, Daniel went around cupping the coffee from different sections of the farm.  Much to his excitement, he discovered that one section of the farm, and specifically one special varietal, produced an amazing cup.  This special varietal was an Ethiopian varietal called Geisha.  When the Peterson’s entered their Geisha coffee into the 2004 Best of Panama competition, the judges were stunned.  That year it sold for record prices, topping $20 a pound green.   The buzz around this coffee did not stop after that year.  It continued to win ALL the possible awards in the specialty industry, distinguishing itself as one of the best coffees in the world.  Just last year, the top lot sold for another mind blowing record price of $130 a pound green.  We have been fortunate to purchase this coffee for years, and this year we are looking forward to another great crop.

Back to the samples…  During the last 2 years, the Petersons have withheld their Esmeralda Special from the Best of Panama competition in order to give other farmers a chance.  Instead of using the Best of Panama competition and auction to sell their coffee, they have created their own auction system, dividing their Geisha variety coffee into separate batches that represent different parts of the farm, different altitudes and different harvest times. 

Last week, we roasted and cupped this year’s Esmeralda Special harvest samples, and we were blown away.  We do not want to give away too many specifics, but we were very happy with this year’s harvest.  Most of the batches that we cupped were bursting with flavor.  There were beautiful floral notes abounding.  Strawberry, bright orange citrus and peach highlight these coffees.  It looks like we will have another year of astounding Esmeralda Special.  The auction is coming soon, May 19^th, and we will keep you updated about which batches we purchase and when we expect them to arrive.  If you would like to watch the auction live, go to http://coffee.stoneworks.com/auction/index.cfm on May 19th.

You can also learn more about this coffee by visiting their website, here.

Last night, the Topeka Chamber of Commerce hosted an awards reception for PT’s Coffee where it presented Jeff Taylor and Fred Polzin with the Business of Excellence Award.  Food, drinks and macchiatos were had all around during this two hour celebration held at PT’s Coffee Roasting Co’s Roasting Facility.