This is the second project in our Artist Feature collection, where we work together with an artist to showcase an exciting coffee!
About the Coffee and Producer - José Raúl Pittí from Finca Santa Teresa
This is our second year working with Finca Santa Teresa (FST), who are regular finalists in the Best of Panama competition, specialising in premium specialty coffees including Gesha, Caturra, Catuai, Typica and Pacamara varietals.
Located in Santa Clara, Renacimiento, the farm is nestled high in the cloud forest near Panama's highest peak Volcán Barú around 1400-1600 masl. That combined with their amazing terroir, being rich in volcanic soils and having a unique microclimate continuously drives coffee with great complexity, florality and sweetness.
Day to day the operations on farm are left in the hands of José Raúl Pittí who is the farm manager and has worked for FST for 18 years. José is a great source of knowledge who knows everything to do with the ins and outs of FST including everything you need to know about each lot, when the trees were planted, how the coffee grows, the weather and microclimates, processing and of course about the entire team and community.
José - "We should call it Zorro. Because this is awesome, and Zorro is awesome." And the name Zorro was born!
The special lot nicknamed 'Zorro', is a plot comprised of bronze tip Gesha. Zorro occupies a beautiful location which faces the sunrise, and benefits from good shade from surrounding native trees. To achieve this natural process the cherry is picked when fully ripe and within hours spread out on raised beds under high altitude sun. The cherry is turned every few hours for even drying, taking 4-6 weeks. Drying is finished off in the oven to help with evenness of moisture and water content before hulling. This has created an amazing coffee with flavours of Tropical Juice, Orange Blossom and Jasmine.
About the Artist
Sarah Sivaraman is an artist and writer who lives on Dja Dja Wurrung country in Victoria, Australia. Her visual arts practice spans a range of mediums including drawing, painting, printmaking and poetry. Sarah is especially interested in the collision of big feelings and mundane experiences, and her work portrays and celebrates the beauty, joy and nonsense of everyday life.
"I was very taken with the story of how this coffee was named, how it was born purely from José’s love of Zorro. I had this sense of love and playfulness in mind as I was working on the drawing, creating a character who feels light and sweet, but still has a bit of that original Zorro pizzazz." - Sivaraman
