Some coffees stop you mid-sip. The kind that make you put the cup down, look at it, and think: what just happened? Finca Deborah coffees are that. Intensely sweet, dizzyingly complex, and unlike anything else you'll brew at home. These lots exist in tiny quantities and rarely make it beyond competition stages and private auctions – so when they do land in our hands, we want them in yours.
Jamison Savage left a career in New York finance to build something extraordinary in the cloud forests of Volcán, Chiriquí. Since 2008, he and his family have turned Finca Deborah into one of the most celebrated coffee farms on the planet – and the numbers back it up. Finca Deborah Geisha has been the coffee of choice for World Barista Champions in 2016, 2024 and 2025, and featured across all three podium positions at the 2024 WBC. We've known Jamison for years, watching competitions and running tastings together, and we've long admired the family's relentless focus on flavour innovation and quality.
The farm itself is something else entirely. Sitting at 1,900 metres and above, Finca Deborah is one of the highest coffee farms in Panama, wrapped in dense cloud cover for most of the year. Rare birds and insects thrive under a lush rainforest canopy, and the volcanic soil is rich, organic and nutrient-dense. It's a working farm that feels more like a nature reserve – entirely solar-powered, with no herbicides or harmful chemicals applied anywhere on the property.
That extreme altitude is also the secret behind the cup. Temperatures regularly dip to 10°C, slowing the metabolism of the coffee trees and pushing sugars deep into the cherries as they develop. The result is an intensity of sweetness and aromatic complexity that's almost impossible to replicate elsewhere. It's the kind of environment where Geisha – the world's most prized and demanding variety – doesn't just survive, it flourishes.
Jamison and his team are genuine innovators in how coffee is processed, pioneering techniques like carbonic maceration in coffee production and constantly experimenting with fermentation to push flavour in new directions. Every stage – from harvest to drying – is carefully controlled and measured. It's the marriage of a spectacular terroir with meticulous, science-driven processing that makes these coffees so extraordinary.
The farm's commitment goes beyond the cup, too. The local Ngäbe community forms the core of Finca Deborah's workforce, with wages well above local minimums, quality housing, healthcare, and plans for community education facilities. It's the kind of producer relationship we're proud to champion through our direct sourcing approach – paying a premium to work transparently with world-class producers who put their land and people first.
