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Panama planters, who are almost all
smallholders, process their Arabica beans by the wet method. The
beans are large, and very uniform in color and size even without
screening (which is a way of passing the beans through a series of
sieves to sort by size). Panama beans sell by several brand names,
each qualified by "High Grown" or "strictly High Grown" (an average
altitude of 1,500 meters in the high regions). The flavor is
agreeable and aromatic, with light-to-medium body, but the problem
is regular availability. The production is often very low, mainly
because coffee is only one activity for the planters, who usually
grow other foods and livestock. Panama grew only about one-fifth of
one percent of the world production in 1996-97. |
