Farm: Café Don Benjie Estate
Producer: Stefan Arwed Müller
Purchasing relationship: 2
years
Region: Los Naranjos, ChiriquÃ, Panama
Altitude: 1400-1550 masl, 8.8°N
Café Don Benjie Estate is situated in the Bajo Mono Canyon on the slopes of Barú Volcano. Coffee has been farmed here for over a hundred years. Today, the 33-hectare farm is led by Stefan Arwed Müller and the De Dianous family. It is known for innovation and produces some of Boquete's most celebrated coffees. With these, the farm has been ranking high in the Best of Panama quality competition again and again over the years.
We visited the estate in 2022 and were shown around the beautiful, hilly farm area by farm manager Emilio, who also lives on the farm. Don Benjie offers housing for around 15 people, who make up the permanent staff at the farm. To enjoy their time off, they built a football pitch for the employees on the farm. During the harvest, there are around four times as many people working there to ensure the ripe coffee cherries are picked in time.
After our visit in 2022, we weren't immediately able to buy their coffee. Two years later, things aligned well, samples tasted amazing, and we bought their coffee for the first time. Read more about our farm visit in our blog section.
