Lot GN-17: GARRIDO GEISHA PROCESS

HISTORY: MAMA CATA is over a 100-year-old coffee farm. Filled with veiled tastes at its core. Lately everything has been about gathering precise information about historical facts. They have proved to be important in understanding our present. *Special thanks to Johnny Collins, Plinio Ruiz and Maria Ruiz for the recovered and revised historical data*.

This farm has had many owners from it’s beginning as a farm (early 1900’s) till today, and many stories to go along with it. Surprisingly, some have proven to be just that: stories. In the search for coffee truths new findings have been made. The historical data available till now states that MAMA CATA had already existed by 1907 as a farm while Boquete still belonged to the David District. Its farmhouses were taken in account as being part of the Quiel region by the time Boquete was legally founded as a District in 1911.

The farm original founders where most likely the Quiel family from whom the micro region took its name. Though, a different lead from research, but least possible, points to the Morales or Sitton family.

From that point on (early 1900’s) the farm was property of the Fischer’s family. Mr. Louis (apparently no widowing from a previous wife as we misbelieved) and Catalina Fischer where a nationalized Panamanian couple originally from Jamaica with a daughter that grew up in the farm. They had a couple of things going. Meanwhile they where establishing the coffee plantation in Boquete, Mr. Fisher was also attending their banana farm in Bocas del Toro.

The Fischers were amongst the first to produce coffee in the actual Alto Quiel micro region. Known coffee buyers during their time being were Mr. Plinio Ruiz Senior, and a German company for the exports <still to be determined>.
It’s recorded that Julia and Tollef Monniche and Miss Archer where contemporaries of same period after the Panama Canal construction ended (1914). But, the Fischers seemed to have settled the coffee farm in Quiel first.
Stories of the cows pulling between bushes and the muddy ground sliding the two, new to their time, 1915’s kerosene big wheel motors making their way to the farm mill are still alive. They moved the peeling and the pulping under the two stories house. Is said that to peel off 1,000 pounds took them over two days. Some remember the pool, hose and pump working for spraying the whole farm. They had the latest tech available at their time for producing the best coffee possible.
Even today someone remember the fragrance of the “jorón <shaded patio-slow dry>“ dried parchment coffee from the Texas farm. Yes. We definitely are recovering this tradition, in some way with the implementation of the permanently shaded green houses.
TEXAS was the name by which MAMA CATA ESTATE was originally known. This named lasted for some time after Mr. Fischer died (1940s), till Catalina sold the farm to the actual owner Teodoro Garrido. The TEXAS name suited so well Mrs. Catalina who was a fan of a 9 shot .22 caliber revolver and a 30-30 carbine for her teatime shoot out with her favorite neighbor Carmela over dead chickens. I think its not casual the Mokkita CASA ABAJO PLOT is just there were these shootings took place. In a sense, it has been a one of a kind shootout for us. Hey, the TEXAS fighting spirit seems to be flowing patiently through us too.
As proof of TEXAS farm’s existence, there is a coin picture in a Boquete history book that show how things where done back in the day: reads out “worth one lata”. These coins where tradable for goods in the town or in the estate store.

Now some genetics history: Verbal gathered history makes reference to Mrs. Catalina “Doña Cata” bringing coffee seeds from Jamaica and elsewhere to the farm for planting. It did not have to do anything related with many Typicas, Catuais, Caturras and Geisha (that we owe to Don Pachi) from the local nursery that provided certified coffee plants from C.A.T.I.E. collections attended by government agronomists. It seems that this part of the story is true, and many other seeds including the Mokka and Jamaican Blue Mountain Typica amongst made their way to our farm due to their seriousness in their coffee production effort.
Now a days: Since the mid 1970’s the actual owner is TEODORO GARRIDO. He named the farm “MAMA CATA” after Catalina. Now a days a 2nd Garrido generation is sharing the thrill: Gissell, Liliana and Jose David are involved to the bone and a 3rd one is near to meet their destiny in the family coffee tradition.

In relation to the Mokkas: How did MOKKA made its way to MAMA CATA? Did it come from Yemen or is it a Bourbon mutation from the Reunion Islands? We don’t have these answers. There is no record of any of this to that level of specification. It is uncertain. But there is another part that is certain for sure. Hard work but also beautiful.

We made a learning investment visiting INBIO Costa Rica. This was incredibly relevant. Why? They had so much old coffee trees information registered and stored for decades, from different parts of the Americas. It included drawings from every part of the coffee tree, and from various genetic materials. They taught us about coffee phenotype observation, analysis and determination. We immediately cross-referenced cupping with these new information after learning that flavor was a dominant trait just like baldness or skin color. When we came back to work it was just another level. Now science and time are working for us. At our labs we had cupped by 2019 over 700-test samples of very old trees that have different phenotypes and cup profiles. We are looking inwards. This cupping effort made a breakthrough even during Mamoru Taguchi San from Bach Coffee of Japan’s visit. At the moment he was the president of the SCAJ and probably the most varietal experienced specialty coffee cupper, with over 60 years of cupping baggage. His life’ passion has been dedicated to serve to an extent of recognition that at that moment he performed as the Emperor of Japans coffee advisor. During cupping in a visit back in the late 2000’s, which was focused on Geisha, he was overwhelmed with this coffee finding. Once he examined the greens he taught us that it was a Mokka. That the taste profile and aspect of the coffee clearly was remembering him a coffee he cupped from an African Coffee Station 60 years back at that moment. He wanted to buy it. But, we only had what he was cupping. So, he encouraged us to plant it fast. That it was a great discovery. So we planted it in his honor. But, this is an understatement. It has taken us over fifteen years to purify and define through cupping, field observation and selection four different phenotypes from the original single tree. These four strains share huge similarities and differences in cup and even more of both in terms of production, resistances and most important cup. Now is MAMA CATA MOKKA’s time to meet the world.

TERROIR: MAMA CATA ESTATE farm has numerous coffee plots that show its full potential when combined with the right varietal and process. Though these particular coffee comes from the TOÑA plot. The ecotopes share a solid weather pattern bathed by the pacific influenced northern rain and breezes. They have the proper gentle sunlight and a fair amount of cold weather. This helps all the other variables the coffee cultivar needs like the different volcanic soil compositions, plant distance, genetics, shade, soil slope degree, plot orientation and so on… Together they shape the coffee cup to delight.

Contact Information:

Jose David Garrido Perez
cell: +507 66170201
email: panamense@gmail.com
instagram: @mamacataestate @cafegarrido @garridospecialtycoffeeroasters