Panama Finca Sophia Gesha Natural

Finca Sophia is a coffee farm co-owned by Equator Coffees' founders Helen Russell and Brooke McDonnell, alongside Willem and Catherine Boot of Boot Coffee. The farm is located in the highlands of Panama at an altitude that tops 2,100 meters, making it one of the highest farms in Central America. Founded in 2008, Finca Sophia is planted almost exclusively with the rare and celebrated Gesha variety. Pairing this legendary coffee variety with the extreme altitude at the farm, results in a one-of-a-kind coffee. Our first harvest of Finca Sophia was selected as a 2016 Good Food Awards winner, and if that wasn’t enough, Finca Sophia has also won the prestigious Best of Panama coffee competition in the Washed Gesha category twice, in 2017 and 2020, with another lot similar to this one, placing second in the Natural Gesha category earlier this year. Unlike the washed method where the coffee fruit gets pulped off of the seeds after harvesting, in the natural method the fruit is left fully intact and dried on raised beds, imparting distinctly fruity flavors into the coffee.

Finca Sophia is considered an experimental farm and was established to test the ceiling of coffee cultivation in Panama. While higher elevations promote slow fruit maturation and high quality, it also presents a myriad of challenges for coffee producers. On Finca Sophia, cool soil temperatures slow the natural decomposition process, resulting in less nutrient rich organic matter in the soil. Limited sun exposure due to the farm’s topography and the region’s microclimate compound these difficulties, but farm manager Kelley Hartmann and his team are considering creative ways to increase the temperature of the soil. For the time being, they are focusing on shade management and ensuring the coffee plants get enough nutrients through fertilization. Having insight into the challenges faced on Finca Sophia gives us even more appreciation for the hard work and dedication that goes into producing this special coffee, and all the coffees that we source.

We treasure our relationships in the global coffee community and invest in projects at origin to
support our partners in their commitment to environmental sustainability and social welfare. We also invest in reducing our day-to-day impact, through initiatives like energy-efficient Loring Smart Roasters to reduce carbon emissions per batch by 80%.

As a certified B Corporation, we are a leader in sustainable practices that impact people and the planet. This third-party certification requires us to demonstrate transparency and accountability throughout our supply chain and quantify the impact our business creates for our employees, the community, and the environment. We are proud to be part of this community working together toward one unifying goal: using business as a force for good.