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Una breve historia del café

The history of coffee in Panama is a relatively brief, but extremely interesting one. Today this bean, and more importantly, the beverage produced from it, is a ubiquitous element on the table of all Panamanians.


From the corner inn to the most exclusive restaurant, Panamanian coffee samples are proudly served today, but it was not always this way.


Coffee arrived for the first time in Panama in 1742, on a ship coming from one of the French Caribbean islands (Martinique or, more probably, Haiti, which was already an established producer by this time). The ship, which arrived in Portobelo via Cartagena (where coffee is not produced), registered a barrel of the grain among its cargo.


However, it was not until 1780 that the planting of coffee in Panamanian territory was registered for the first time. The colonist Pedro Antonio de Ayarza tried to plant it in Portobelo between the decade of 1780-90, but soon realized that it was a terrible geographical area for its cultivation and it was not until the second decade of the XIX century that coffee began to be planted in other areas of the isthmus.


To establish its sovereignty over all beverages, it first had to displace chocolate (a beverage originating in America) and compete against tea, which was already firmly rooted in Europe.


Today, Panama holds the world record price for a pound of Boquete geisha coffee and produces some of the world's most sought-after high-altitude coffees.

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