One farm. We can name it.

About

One farm. We can name it.

Lunar imports a single coffee, from a single estate in Boquete, once a year. This page explains how that happened and why we have not tried to do more.

Boquete, Chiriquí, Panama

In 2004 a small lot from a farm in Boquete was entered into Panama's national coffee competition. It did not taste like coffee. It tasted like jasmine and bergamot and stone fruit, closer to a fine tea than to anything the judges had in their reference set, and it broke the auction record by a margin nobody had seen before.The variety was Geisha. It had been sitting in Central America for forty years, planted at the edges of farms as a disease-resistant curiosity and largely ignored, because it yields poorly and ripens unevenly and is generally a nuisance to grow.Two decades later it is the most valuable coffee variety in the world, and consequently the most imitated name on a coffee bag.
In 2004 a small lot from a farm in Boquete was entered into Panama's national coffee competition. It did not taste like coffee. It tasted like jasmine and bergamot and stone fruit, closer to a fine tea than to anything the judges had in their reference set, and it broke the auction record by a margin nobody had seen before.The variety was Geisha. It had been sitting in Central America for forty years, planted at the edges of farms as a disease-resistant curiosity and largely ignored, because it yields poorly and ripens unevenly and is generally a nuisance to grow.Two decades later it is the most valuable coffee variety in the world, and consequently the most imitated name on a coffee bag.

Why we exist

Lunar started with a family connection to one estate in Boquete, in the Chiriquí highlands. Not a sourcing relationship built at a trade show. A connection that already existed, to a farm with placements at Best of Panama and a mill of its own a few hundred metres from the trees.

That is the entire reason this business is possible, and it is worth being plain about it. We are not a roaster with a wide bench of origins and a story attached to each one. We are a very small importer with access to one coffee.

The farm, Boquete

What we do differently

Almost all imported specialty coffee travels green. It crosses an ocean by sea, sits in a warehouse, waits in a roasting queue, and is eventually roasted by someone who has never seen the plot it came from, often months after harvest.

Ours goes the other way round. The coffee is grown, processed, roasted and packed at the farm, and then flown to the United States. Air freight costs several times what sea freight costs, and consolidating shipments this small is genuinely difficult.

We do it because it is the only version of this business where the roast date printed on your bag means something. That single decision drives most of what the brand is, including the price.

We import one coffee, from one farm, because that is the only way we can answer every question you might ask about it.

Lunar Coffee

What we are not

We are not a range. There are two coffees and a tasting flight, and they are the same beans processed two different ways.

We are not cheap, and we are not going to pretend the price is a bargain. What we will do is show you exactly where it goes, on the composition page and the quality standards page, and refund your first bag if it is not what we described.

Sorting, before roast

Where we are

Lunar Coffee is operated and ships from the United States. The coffee comes from Finca La Valentina in Boquete, Chiriquí, Panama.

There is no support team and no ticket system. If you write to support@lunargeisha.com a person reads it, usually within a business day.