Jamison Savage Finca Deborah

Jamison Savage, Finca Deborah; Volcan, Chiriqui, Panama; Geisha; Echo Cascara Infused Carbonic Maceration Washed; 2025

Grapes | Blueberry | White Peach | Orange

The Panamanian coffee industry is centred in the Chiriquí province of Panama’s northern highlands and is concentrated in the areas of Boquete and Volcán. Also called the Valley of Flowers and Eternal Spring, these areas are perched on the sides of the Baru Volcano and surrounding foothills. It is in these idyllic locales that truly distinct and unique coffees are produced. These highlands are blessed with terroir consisting of highly volcanic, enriched soil, abundant moisture, diverse microclimates, regular rainfall, dense vegetation, and cloud cover to nourish the coffee trees. This in turn contributes to the production of fine shade grown coffees with incredibly complex flavor characteristics.

In 2008, Jamison and Leslie Savage moved their family from USA to the Republic of Panama where they established the renowned Finca Deborah, located at 1,900m dedicated to cultivating the exotic Geisha variety. One of the highest, most remote coffee farms in all of Panama, temperatures drop to 10°C at night, translating into sweet and fruity Geisha, allowing Jamison to stretch his imagination in coffee processing. Oftentimes he borrows methods from multiple industries, and incorporating them into the coffee production process. Biodynamic cultivation, Carbonic Maceration and Anaerobic processing, and unique proprietary methods bearing evocative names to the likes of 'Illumination', 'Echo', 'Parabola', etc - these are his trademarks, mostly inspired by the wine sector.

Savage Family has 4 estates - Finca Deborah, Iris Estate, Morgan Estate and Don Eduardo Estate. He also has a project called Savage Coffee which is a collaboration of boutique coffee producers from Boquete Valley and Volcan led by Jamison Savage. Of these, the most famous is undoubtedly Finca Deborah. It has been featured in international competitions since Berg Wu of Simple Kaffa used his washed Geisha to win the World Barista Championship 2016, and continually being the choice for finalist competitors for world competitions. In 2024, Mikael Jasin of Indonesia once again used it to win the world Barista Championship, alongside the 2nd and 3rd prize winners in the same year.

The environment has a big part in the beautiful coffees from this farm. Finca Deborah is shrouded in rainforest cloud coverage for much of the year. The plantation is a beautiful, natural environment where rare species of plants and animals are abundant, left undisturbed under the canopy. Because of its lofty altitude, diseases are naturally kept to a minimum. Temperature alone makes for an inhospitable place for fungal issues and other unwanted diseases. Insect concerns are also minimized due to the elevation. This allows the coffee trees to focus on producing beautiful fruit instead of wasting valuable energy defending themselves from disease. Furthermore, there is no gas powered machines, harsh chemical pesticides or herbicides are used during the cultivation of the farm. Natural, organic fertilizers are used in combination with organic weed control to maintain a balance between the coffee trees and unwanted undergrowth. The Geisha grows in shade, hand picked by the Nôbe-Buglé people who are the primary workforce on the farm. All these conditions translate into lower costs and reduced production volatility.

In this Geisha, whole cherries are placed into tanks with cascara (coffee cherry pulp) from previous batches and pressurized with CO2 to create a pre-fermentation environment. It is then processed normally as a washed coffee. In a way, it is a self-co-fermented coffee, bringing a twist to the popular co-fermentation method. It is an interesting coffee to have against the backdrop of our list of fruit macerated co-fermented coffees produced by Santa Monica of Cofinet, Colombia. It is called Echo probably because it has a strong afterflavour.

This coffee is part of our Touring Series. The coffee label bears our tagline "Savouring our world in a cup".

Roast Level
This coffee is roasted on Santoker Q20. It has high moisture, high density and big size. The air roaster heats up the coffee rapidly at the start. With the strong airflow of the Santoker, we applied a level of power that can sustain the roast and also maintain a very low ROR after the first crack to stretch the time to balance out any excessive acidity. A low ROR retains the aromatic characteristics of the Geisha. The roast time is short as compared to a drum roaster. 

As usual, we roast the coffee light but thorough enough for a good finish, like a strong echo as suggested by its name.

Brew Flavour
2 days after roast, the dry fragrance is limey and cream. The aroma is grapey and plums, which extends well into the brew. The flavour is clean and smooth, with complex acidity - think orange, strawberry, calamansi, pineapple - and a peach finish. As the coffee cools, grapey aroma becomes more of blueberry, with increasingly fluffiness (oiliness), and a toffee finish. The light body of the washed coffee is modulated by its oiliness, maintaining its silky smoothness from hot to cool. The peach finish grows with cooler temperature.

This is our brew recipe, with Timemore Crystal Eye on a Mola Abaca paper, at 15g @ 650 μm to 250ml of 92°C water. To contextualise the grind size, its size is nearer to sugar than salt. 

0 sec - Add 50g of water
45 - 60 sec - Add 100g of water to 150g
1 min 45 sec - 2 min - Add 100g of water to 250g
2 min 30 sec - Finish
No need for bypass 


All coffees will be in whole beans. If you require the coffees to be ground, please inform us in the order notes whether you wish it to be: espresso, moka, filter or cold brew.


Savouring our world in a cup!
Enjoy!