The Caldera Coffees story

 

The small town of Boquete is nestled in a valley of verdant mountains on the slopes of the Barú volcano in the highlands of Panama’s westernmost province of Chiriquí. The rich volcanic soil, altitude, consistent mild weather and frequent ‘bajareque’ – a delicate drizzle that blows down the mountains – create the perfect ground for growing coffee. This idyllic place is home to world-class, multi-generational family-owned coffee estates.

Named after the Caldera river which runs through the town, Caldera Coffees was born in 2018 when two friends – Jaime and Michelle, proud Panamanians living in Hong Kong – realised local coffee aficionados were not acquainted with Panama’s numerous and varied specialty coffee producers.

We look forward to sharing with you coffees from ‘Best of Panama’ farms and the flavors and stories behind them.

 

View of Boquete and the Caldera river 

 

About Jaime
With great-grandparents that grew and harvested coffee near the town of El Valle, in Coclé Province, Jaime always had a close connection to coffee as culture from the ‘interior’ or countryside of Panama. Several years ago, before Panama Geisha coffee rose to global prominence, Jaime visited the Ruiz family estate in the town of Boquete, and became fascinated with the nascent specialty coffee business there. Since then he began to contemplate bringing the Boquete coffee flavors to Hong Kong and the rest of Asia. Jaime lived in Hong Kong for sixteen years before moving to London with his wife and two children in 2021.


About Michelle
Michelle’s earliest coffee memory is at the breakfast table when her dad would dip a bit of bread into his coffee and let her taste the goodness of the black nectar. She grew up in a coastal town in Chiriquí, and her family would take frequent weekend trips to Boquete: a beautiful paradise on earth filled with colorful flowers, bees, and the smell of coffee in the streets. Even though she has called Hong Kong home for the last 25 years, a trip back to Panama would almost always include a visit to enchanting Boquete.