Archive for the 'Area Events' Category
Abril en Boquete marca el inicio de la Temporada Verde en Panamá. Los días de cielos despejados, soleados e intensamente azules, así como las brisas de verano (diciembre a marzo), merman a medida que el calendario pasa del Equinoccio Vernal el día 21 de marzo. Ya para el primero de abril, las nubes se acumulan al avanzar la mañana y regalan a las montañas con su lluvia en la tarde. Las mañanas siguen amaneciendo soleadas y acompañadas del cantar de las aves. Las flores, que están por todas partes, estallan en mil colores y los pastizales secos se visten de un tono verde esmeralda de un día para otro, agradecidos por la humedad.
Cada año en abril, Boquete celebra las Feria de las Orquídeas, con vendedores internacionales, ventas de comida y una sala entera dedicada a exhibir los más finos especímenes de orquídeas. Visitantes de todas partes del mundo y de Panamá llegan para disfrutar de estas exóticas flores. ¿Sabía usted que las orquídeas son las más prolíferas de todas las flores, con más de 40,000 especies identificadas? Aquí en las tierras altas panameñas, varias fincas de orquídeas se especializan en hibridar y cultivar estas flores. La Finca Dracula en Cerro Punta envía contenedores de orquídeas a Japón cada año, y sus sofisticados invernaderos y laboratorios cultivan casi 3,000 variedades diferentes.
Los jardines del Panamonte Inn están resplandecientes para esta temporada. Las flores emanan sus inciensos, los árboles relucen de verdor, los cactus imponen por sus formas y tamaño. ¿Cactus? ¿En el trópico? Así es: ¡el Panamonte tiene cactus saguaro de dos pisos de altura en el área de su jardín! La biodiversidad panameña une especies de plantas de los hemisferios Norte y Sur, con el cruce de caminos justo en Boqute. Con razón al Smithsonian le ha tomado más de 100 años catalogar todas las plantas que aquí crecen – ¡y todavía no han terminado!
Los jardines del Panamonte son un lugar fantástico para visitar y disfrutar de un café matutino, un placentero almuerzo bajo un árbol de mango o una taza de té por la tarde, y están siempre abiertos al público. Si usted piensa hospedarse en el Panamonte durante la Temporada Verde, no deje de preguntar por las promociones especiales.
¿Estará en Panamá el fin de semana del 28 de abril? El Panamonte, junto con Medimex, está patrocinando un Festival Internacional de la Cerveza. Nueve cervezas especiales de diferentes partes del mundo serán acompañadas de las creaciones gustativas de la cocina del Chef Charlie Collins, para proporcionar un evento sensorial inolvidable – un bufet de deliciosas comidas con un postre sorpresa (¡incluyendo una cerveza de postre!). Haga sus reservaciones hoy mismo, llamando al 720-1327 o por e-mail a reservations@panamonte.com. $25.00 por persona.
April in Boquete marks the beginning of the Panama Green Season. The clear, blue, sunny brilliance and breezes of summer (December – March) subside as the calendar passes the Vernal Equinox on March 21. By April 1, clouds gather in the late morning and gift the mountains with a shower in the afternoon. The mornings continue to dawn filled with bird song and sunshine. The flowers, everywhere, explode with color and brown pastures turn emerald green overnight, grateful for the moisture.
Each year in April, Boquete celebrates the Orchid Festival, with international vendors, foods stands, and an entire hall dedicated to showing the finest specimens of orchids. Visitors from around the world and Panama come to view these exotic flowers. Did you know that orchids are the most prolific of all flowers, with over 40,000 identified species? Here in the highlands of Panama, several orchid farms specialize in hybridizing and cultivating orchids. Finca Dracula in Cerro Punta ships containers of orchids to Japan each year, and their sophisticated greenhouses and labs cultivate almost 3,000 different varieties.
The gardens of the Panamonte Inn are resplendent now. The flowers are fragrant, the trees are green, the towering cacti are formidable. Cacti? In the tropics? Yes, that’s correct, the Panamonte has saguro cacti two stories tall in its garden area! The biodiversity of Panama links plant species from Northern and Southern hemispheres, with the cross point occurring in Boquete. No wonder it has taken the Smithsonian Institute over 100 years to catalogue all the plants growing here—and they aren’t finished yet!
The Panamonte gardens are a fantastic place to visit for morning coffee, a lovely lunch under the mango tree, an afternoon cup of tea, and it is always open to the public. If you plan to stay at the Panamonte during the Green Season, be sure to inquire about special promotional offers.
Will you be in Panama the weekend of April 28? The Panamonte, with Medimex, is hosting an International Spring Festival of Beer! Nine specialty beers from around the world will be paired with unique tasting creations from Chef Charlie Collins’ kitchen to provide a memorable gustatory event—a buffet of savory foods with a dessert surprise (featuring a special dessert beer!). Make your reservations now by calling 720-1327 or email at reservations@panamonte.com. $25.00 per person.
El primero de marzo amanecía como un jueves cualquiera en Boquete, Panamá. La mañana avanzaba sin novedades. Gente comprando, trabajando, turistas paseando, unas cuantas personas reunidas en el parque central para pasar el día, otras almorzando en los restaurantes al aire libre alrededor del parque. Nada especial (fuera del hecho de que CADA día es especial en Boquete!). Un poco después del mediodía, la brisa sopla, todo está quieto.
Pero espera…¿eso qué es? ¿Música? ¿Del otro lado del puente? ¡Espera un momento! Esa no es CUALQUIER música. Es de esas músicas que te ponen a marcar el ritmo con los pies, que te desafían a quedar quieto, que te invitan a rumbear… ¡Música de las calles de Nueva Orleans! ¿En Boquete? ¿En serio? ¡Sí!
Y donde hay música, tiene que haber un desfile, ¿no? ¡Pués sí! ¡Allí viene!
Se acerca un grupo disparejo de cien o más personas, cubiertas de lentejuelas, plumas, máscaras, pintura, collares de cuentas y coloridos disfraces, haciendo cabriolas por la calle detrás de energéticos bailarines del jive, un trombón, una tuba, tambores y un clarinete.
¿Qué sucede? ¡Si el Carnaval y el Mardi Gras terminaron la semana pasada, gente!
No haga caso al calendario. Preste atención. Aquí viene el desfile. El estandarte de cabeza es portado por los Boquete Community Players, seguidos de los Buenos Vecinos, luego una fila de carritos de golf alegremente adornados de Valle Escondido, y ¡un sinfín de fabulosos y ágiles bailarines!
No, ¡este no es un jueves cualquiera! Es el inicio del Boquete Jazz &y Blues Festival 2012, una extravagancia internacional de talentos reunidos en las tierras altas panameñas para celebrar 4 días de música y festividades de clase mundial.
Sorteando los carros, tirando confites a los niños (y adultos), bailando hacia la Avenida Central, la banda que encabeza a los alegres participantes continua hasta el destino de esa tarde, el Panamonte Inn & Spa. Desde 1914, el Panamonte ha sido con frecuencia el centro de las actividades culturales y de entretenimiento de esta comunidad de tierras altas, y hoy más que nunca, el primero de marzo de 2012, cuando el pueblo entero ha sido invitado a una tradicional Fiesta de Jardín.
Qué día más perfecto para una fiesta de jardín! Una temperatura perfecta, un cielo despejado, y las flores en pleno esplendor. El Jardín del Panamonte da la bienvenida al extraño surtido de invitados y procede a servir el picante jambalaya y gélidos y potentes huracanes, con el acompañamiento musical y pasos de jitterbug del Smoking Time Jazz Club, una banda callejera de 8 piezas que echa humo de lo caliente de su música, traída directamente desde Nueva Orleans sólo para este evento. Giselle Anguizola, la vocalista estrella del Smoking Jazz Time Club, es nativa de Chiriquí – y además de tener una voz extremadamente sensual, es la viva esencia del “boogie-woogie” en la pista de baile.
“Vas a volver el otro año?”
“Espero que sí!” exclama Giselle después de la fiesta. “Ha sido una experiencia inolvidable!”
Cuando se da cuenta de que solamente hay unos 100 festivales internacionales de Blues y Jazz cada año en todo el mundo, le parecerá realmente asombroso que uno de ellos – y uno que está adquiriendo cada vez más fama – tenga lugar aquí, en el pequeño villorrio entre bosques nubosos de Boquete, Panamá. ¡Guao!
El organizador del evento, Hans Lebuser, guardó su disfraz de Rey del Carnaval, tomó un merecido descanso de unos cuantos días en la playa, y ya está planeando el Boquete Jazz & Blues Festival 2013.
“Asombroso es la palabra correcta,” afirma. “Se vendieron 600 entradas para los conciertos que tuvieron lugar el fin de semana en diferentes restaurantes y en el anfiteatro de Valle Escondido. Todavía estoy contando, pero creo que incluso tuvimos una pequeña ganancia este año, lo cual es asombroso de por sí. El próximo año estaremos aún más organizados, con ventas de entradas en la ciudad capital, más sitios para las presentaciones, y más músicos de blues y jazz de Nueva Orleans, Cuba y Colombia.”
“Pero,” y esta es la pregunta del millón, “¿habrá otro desfile hasta el Panamonte y otra Fiesta de Jardín?”
“No lo duden,” sonríe Hans. “¡Fue una juerga de primera!”
Doña Inga Collins, la grande dame del Panamonte, y su Gerente General, Sandra Naranjo, están de acuerdo. “Definitivamente que lo haremos de nuevo,” afirma Sandra.
“De hecho,” dice Doña Inga con un pícaro brillo en los ojos, “creo que necesitamos más desfiles, más música, más bailes! Y ¡no deberíamos tener que esperar todo un año para hacerlo!”
March 1 dawned an ordinary Thursday in Boquete, Panama. The morning unfolded with ordinariness. People shopping, working, tourists wandering about, a few people gathered in the central park to pass the time, others having lunch at one of the outdoor cafes around the square. Nothing special (except that EVERY day in Boquete is special!). A bit after lunch time, the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, all is quiet.
But wait…what’s that? Music? Coming from across the bridge? Wait. Not just ANY music. Toe tapping, defy-you-to-stand-still, hip shakin’ boogie woogie New Orleans street music! In Boquete? OMG. Yes.
And, where there is music, there is bound to be a parade, right? Yes! Here they come!
A motley gang of a hundred or so sequined, feathered, masked, painted, bead-draped and brightly costumed folks prancing down the street behind high steppin’ jive dancers, a slide trombone, a tuba. drums and a clarinet.
What is happening? Carnival and Mardi Gras were LAST week, dudes!
Never mind the calendar. Pay attention. Here comes the parade. The lead off banner borne by Boquete Community Players, followed by Buenos Vecinos, and then a line of gaily festooned golf carts from Valle Escondido and a multitude of tripping-the-light-fantastic dancers!
NO ordinary Thursday, this! THIS is the kick-off to the 2012 Boquete Blues and Jazz Festival, an international extravaganza of talent gathered in the Panama highlands for 4 days of world class music and merriment.
Weaving their way through traffic, tossing candy to children (and adults), dancing their way up Avenida Central, the band leads the merry paraders to the afternoon’s destination, The Panamonte Inn & Spa. Since 1914 The Panamonte has often been the center of this highland village’s cultural and entertainment activities, and never more than on this, March 1, 2012, where the entire town has been invited to an old-fashioned Garden Party.
What a day for a party in the garden! Perfect temperature, cloudless skies, and every flower in full bloom. The Panamonte Garden welcomes it’s odd looking guests and proceeds to serve up spicy jambalaya and frosty, potent hurricanes to the musical accompaniment and jitterbug antics of the Smoking Time Jazz Club, a smoking hot 8 piece street band, flown in from New Orleans just for the occasion. Giselle Anguizola, the Smoking Time Jazz Club’s vocal diva, is a native of Chiriqui—and in addition to being sultry hot on the vocals, she is the essence of boogie-woogie on the dance floor.
“Are you coming back next year?”
“Oh! I hope so!” Giselle exclaimed, post-party. “It’s been amazing!”
When you realize that there are only somewhat over 100 international Blues & Jazz Festivals held each year, world-wide, it is amazing that one of them—one of the most up & coming of them—is being held here, in the tiny, cloud forest hamlet of Boquete, Panama. Wow.
Event organizer, Hans Lebuser, has now put away his King of Carnival costume, taken a few days off at the beach to catch his breath, and is already planning for the 2013 Boquete Blues and Jazz Festival.
“Amazing is the right word,” he agrees. “Over 600 tickets were sold for the weekend concerts held at different restaurants and in the Valle Escondido amphitheatre. I’m still counting, but I think we even made a small profit this year, which is in itself amazing. Next year we’ll be even more organized, have ticket outlets in Panama City, more local venues, get more blues and jazz players from New Orleans, Cuba and Colombia.”
“But,” and this is the burning question, “will there be a parade to the Panamonte and another Panamonte Garden Party?”
“You can count on it,” Hans grins. “It was a rocking hot good time.”
Doña Inga Collins, Panamonte grande dame, and the Inn’s General Manager, Sandra Naranjo, both concur. “We will definitely do it again,” states Sandra. “
In fact,” smiles Doña Inga, with a naughty twinkle, “I think we need more parades, more music, more dancing! And we shouldn’t wait a whole year to do it!
When I was a child, growing up between the dairy farms of Connecticut and the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, I always envisioned myself, one day, as a coffee farmer in the Boquete highlands of Panama in Central America….
Well. Maybe not exactly.
I actually grew up in a family where coffee, Maxwell House, came powdered from a jar. Even with milk and sugar it was nasty. I had no concept that coffee came from an actual plant or that it could actually taste good!
I did not develop an appreciation for coffee until I spent some time in Seattle, Washington when the first Starbucks coffee houses were opening. There I discovered coffees from Indonesia, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Costa Rica. Viennese, French and Italian roasts. Lattes, cappuccinos and espressos. The exotica of coffee—REAL coffee—filled my senses. The smell. The texture. The color. The taste. I began to order my beans shipped overnight. I stored them in special containers. I ground the beans fresh each morning. I French pressed two perfect cups at a time. I developed my own special blend of roasts, striving for that just-right smooth, full-bodied chocolaty taste that I had come to favor. Not for me the light, bright blends with clean aftertaste touted as ‘sophisticated, jazzy and urbane’. Give me the dark, complex, mysterious brews that conjure images of European street cafes cast in the dreamy lights of an Impressionist painting… Yes. Along with millions of others, I fell victim to The Romance of Coffee. That was over 20 years ago. Now, of course, I eschew Starbucks as mainstream, uber-hyped, consumerist swill.
Upon moving to Boquete and purchasing a small coffee farm, my Romance became a full-blown Affair and then a Marriage, as I began to learn the complexities involved in the world of specialty coffee.
In 2004, coffee from Boquete, Panama had made history in the international world of specialty coffees. A particular strain of Arabica, known commonly as Geisha, grown on Hacienda Esmeralda on Alto Jaramillo, sold for record prices at auction. As a result, Boquete coffee—with the Esmeralda Special leading the way—was beginning to receive the same sorts of attention and accolades that previously had been reserved for Jamaica Blue Mountain and Hawaiian Kona coffees.
The name, Geisha, is a misnomer. All coffee varieties trace their roots back to the highlands of Ethiopia and this particular variety comes from the small mountain town of Gesha, in the southwestern part of the country. The variety was brought to Boquete from Costa Rica in the late 1960s. It grows on quite a few farms in the Boquete area. It takes an expert to truly determine if a plant is a Geisha, but you can look for the typical long narrow fruiting body holding two longer-than-normal beans.
The story of the Esmeralda Special begins in 1998, a particularly bad year for coffee in Boquete. Hurricane Mitch sat over Honduras and caused torrential rains and flooding. The effect here was a long, wet October with heavy clouds and no sunshine—ideal conditions for one of the worst diseases coffee suffers from in this area, the “Ojo de Gallo” (Eye of the Rooster) fungal infection. Ojo de Gallo starts as dime-sized circles with yellowing borders on the leaves of the plants and flourishes in moist conditions. Soon the coffee plant’s internal defense mechanism kicks in and to rid itself of the problem, it drops all its leaves, leaving bare branches. With no leaves to produce energy from the sun, the beans never ripen and harvest is poor, at best. The following year, all the plant’s energy goes to making new leaves instead of more beans, effectively eliminating two years of production. In 1998, some of the farms in the Jaramillo area lost 80% of their plants to Ojo de Gallo. (Note: Boquete suffered exactly the same cycle of too much rain and not enough sun in 2010—with the result that almost 60% of the valley’s coffee was lost).
On the Esmeralda-Jaramillo farm the manager, Daniel Peterson, noticed that amongst the various varieties of coffee, one, known as the “Geisha”, seemed to suffer less from the disease—keeping its leaves and producing a harvest while other varieties next to it fared much worse. They decided to seed this variety in an area of the farm ready for new planting. They knew the yields would be lower—Geisha variety grows taller and wider than most common varieties so there are fewer plants per hectare. They reasoned, however, that the plants’ natural resistance would help pull the farm through the years when fungal infections were at their worst.
Jump forward to 2004. The Geisha varietals had reached maturity and were producing their typical long, slender cherries holding two long coffee beans each. Peterson decided to harvest and cup the Geisha separately from the rest of the farm’s coffee. The results were very promising and he sent a small quantity of it to New York to be entered in the Rain Forest Alliance’s coffee competition. The Boquete Geisha took first place amongst all the Rain Forest Alliance’s certified farms. The coffee was also entered in the Specialty Coffee Association of Panama’s yearly competition and again took first place by an astounding margin. Seven bags (at 100 kilos each) were then sold through an internet auction for the record-breaking price of $21 per pound. At the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s annual conference in Seattle, the Geisha beat out coffees from all over the world in the cupping pavilion. In 2005, the coffee, now named the Esmeralda Special, again won the award for the best coffee in Panama.
Ric Rhinehart, a professional coffee cupper and owner of Groundwork Coffee Co. summed up the experience of judging the Esmeralda Special as follows: “This cup not only had flavors that matched the aroma in intensity and complexity, but added in a perfectly attenuated acidity, solid body and an overall sweetness that made for what may be the most complete cup of coffee I have ever had the pleasure of tasting.”
But what, really, makes these coffees so special—and so expensive? The Specialty Coffee Association of America defines specialty coffee this way: “Sometimes called ‘gourmet’ or ‘premium’ coffee, specialty coffees are made from exceptional beans grown only in ideal coffee-producing climates. They tend to feature distinctive flavors, which are shaped by the unique characteristics of the soil that produces them.”
Limited availability, combined with great marketing, are the prime factors and you need both, in addition to exceptional beans. Juan Valdez of Colombia has great marketing, but he is not able to sell his generic, mass-produced product for more than about $4 or $5 a pound, tops. There is too much of it and it is not exceptional.
Availability and marketing are obvious. But, what constitutes exceptional? By what objective standards is one coffee pronounced exceptional while another of equally limited availability is denied this sobriquet? Well, really, there aren’t any objective standards. Remember the tasting wheel? There are hundreds of combinations of descriptors for the fragrance and taste of a particular cup of coffee, all subject to the interpretation of a cupper’s nose and tongue. Lemony, vanilla, woodsy, earthy, chocolaty, winey…right on around to such unappealing descriptors as cabbagy, wet doggy and skunky.
A friend sent me a Reuters article off Yahoo entitled: Pricey Coffee Good to the Last Dropping. Kopi Luwak, grown on three of the 13,000+ islands in the Indonesian archipelago, may be the ultimate in ‘specialty’ coffees. Last year, only 500 pounds were put on the market. So that’s two out of three: limited availability and high profile marketing. But, what about exceptional? It obviously must be exceptional, as you will pay up to $450 per pound, or more, assuming it is the genuine article and you can find it, almost exclusively in New York and California. (Also assuming anyone in their right mind would pay that much for a couple of pots of brew!).
Kopi Luwak has been ‘cupped’ and some of the various words used to describe it are earthy, heavy, syrupy, caramel, chocolate, complex, typically Indonesian or Sumatran with a mysterious, indescribable nuance, funky zoo-like aroma. H-m-m. Wait a minute. Zoo-like aroma? Why are people willing to pay a small ransom for it?
Turns out there is good reason for the ‘zoo-like’. Kopi Luwak is exceptional because unlike ordinary coffee cherries that are picked off coffee trees, these cherries are retrieved from the jungle floor—but not until after they have been eaten, partially digested and then excreted by palm civets, a small, tree-dwelling marsupial closely related to the raccoon, but looking like a cat or an otter, who thinks the coffee cherries in his habitat make a dandy dessert following a feast of insects, fruit and small rodents.
I am not making this up. The most expensive coffee in the world is harvested from animal poop. I really think this may be where marketing outstrips reality. It’s a case where the gimmick is the essence. Seriously, folks.
Now let me be clear. I have NOT tasted Kopi Luwak. If anyone out there has, I would love to have a firsthand report. If you have a stash, and are willing to share, invite me for coffee. I’m game to try most anything, once. But I think there needs to be a distinction made between specialty “gimmick” coffees and truly special coffees. Many of the coffees produced here in Boquete are exceptional coffees. They each have distinctive, individual profiles, they are consistent, and they both smell and taste really, really good. (Visit www.panamacoffee.org for some of the other exceptional coffees produced in the area). Even amongst the Geishas, there are differences, depending on which farm they come from. At the Panamonte Inn and Spa in Boquete, I was served a small cup of Cafe Don Pachi, the 2011 First Place Specialty Geisha grown by Francisco Serracin. Served black, it needed nothing. Rich, smooth, with mouth-filling sweetness. Completely delicious, and yes, very special.
Back in the 1990’s when Kona coffee was all the rage among the coffee elite, the demand far outpaced the amount being grown. Enterprising coffee moguls decided the limited crop availability was adversely impacting their bottom line—they couldn’t sell what they didn’t have. So they surreptitiously bought coffee from Boquete and surrounding areas (at bargain prices), rebagged it, labeled it 100% Kona, and sold more Kona than was grown in Hawaii. They were eventually caught, stopped and in at least one case imprisoned, but I daresay 99% of the consumers who bought this “Kona” never had a clue. From this chicanery comes the saying among Boquete’s inner coffee circle, “The best Kona is a Boquete.”
Those of us involved in the coffee industry of Boquete have been watching the attention given to the events of the past few years with great interest. Already more Geisha variety is being cultivated. More and more farms are embracing sustainable agricultural practices and many are pursuing organic certification. International coffee buyers and cuppers are visiting to see first-hand our beautiful cloud forest environment where award winning coffees are being grown. Visitors are taking samples back home and asking, “Where can we order more?”
Boquete coffee already has most of the key elements necessary for becoming an internationally recognized coffee icon: an ideal coffee producing environment (high elevation, volcanic soil, the right balance of moisture and sun in a tropical highland climate), limited availability, and truly exceptional quality. Now, our marketing is improving. The world is taking notice. We don’t need gimmicks. We don’t have to call it something else. We have the real thing.
Word to the wise: Drink the best. Drink Boquete coffee.
