Finca Deborah

The farm and the people

Finca Deborah sits in the mountains above Volcán, in Panama’s Chiriquí province. Jamison Savage left a finance career in New York and, from 2008, built the farm with his family in the cloud forest. The farm is often wrapped in cloud, runs on solar power and, according to Ozone Coffee Roasters, uses no herbicides or harmful chemicals.

Ozone also reports that the Ngäbe community forms the core of the workforce, with wages above local minimums, housing and healthcare.

Altitude and variety

Roasters place the farm above 1,900 meters, which makes it one of the highest in the Volcán area. Berg Wu, who competed with it, gave 1,950 meters for his lot. Geisha is the variety the farm is known for.

Nights drop to around 10°C. Ozone credits that cold for slowing the trees and concentrating sugars in the cherry.

Processing

The standard-bearer is a washed Geisha. Only ripe cherries are hand-picked, then depulped and washed with minimal water, and dried in the shade on multi-level beds in a climate-controlled drying house.

Savage is equally known for experiments. Lots have been made by carbonic maceration, a method borrowed from winemaking, as well as natural and anaerobic fermentation. Under the Savage Coffee label, the washed carbonic Iridescence lot, grown at 1,800 meters, is cupped at 94 by its roaster, and the natural Anthem lot dries for more than 25 days on custom tiered beds.

In the cup

The washed lots lean floral and delicate. Leuchtfeuer describes its Terroir lot as elegant florals, delicate grape and macaroon sweetness with a lasting finish. Berg Wu described his lot as “Very honey-like, but unmistakably floral,” with dark and tropical fruit and an aftertaste that “comes and goes for hours.”

The fermentation-driven lots go another way. Iridescence is described with chamomile, jasmine, sweet tangerine and white peach. Anthem is described with strawberry, raspberry and rose water.

Where the reputation comes from

The farm’s name travelled in June 2016, when Berg Wu of Taiwan won the World Barista Championship in Dublin using a washed Geisha from the 2015/2016 crop. At the time he noted the farm was only in its second year of exporting Geisha. He said he respected Savage for building a farm at that elevation in such isolation.

Ozone adds that Finca Deborah Geisha was the choice of world barista champions in 2016, 2024 and 2025, and that it featured in all three podium places in 2024. A Japanese Barista Championship win in 2023 with a Finca Deborah lot is also cited by Leuchtfeuer.

Lots are small, and Ozone says they rarely leave competitions or private auctions. Roasters such as Ozone buy directly and book ahead.