The Don Pachi farm is located in the well-known coffee-growing region of Boquete in Panama. It is named after its founder, the Italian Antonio Serracín Sr. who founded the farm in 1873.
Today, Don Pachi Estate is run by the 4th generation, Francisco Seracín Jr. The Don Pachi coffee farm is ideally situated for growing coffee in the Callehonseco District, at an altitude of 1400 to 1550 metres. In Boquete, very strong winds blow down from the mountains to the Caribbean side. On the one hand, this means difficult growing conditions for the coffee trees: weak varieties can hardly withstand them. On the other hand, they allow for a cooler microclimate in which the coffee cherries ripen slowly. This is essential for the incredibly great flavours of the Panama Geishas.
Francisco's father - aka Don Pachi - brought the first geisha coffee seeds from a laboratory in Costa Rica around 1963 and planted them himself on the farm. This is the Geisha from which the other Geisha coffees in Panama developed.
However, Panama was not yet known for its Specialty Coffee at that time. Political instability and difficult access to international purchase markets made it almost impossible to establish the Panamanian coffee sector for the world market. Due to the difficult growing conditions and low yields of the Geisha variety, it was a long road for Don Pachi to establish the variety. But through his passion for coffee, together with a good portion of bite and persistence, he managed to establish the Geisha variety throughout Panama. From here, it also made its way to the farm Hacienda La Esmeralda, known for its exceptional Geisha lots. Don Pachi is today considered the "Godfather of Geisha" in Panama. He died in 2016 at the age of 78.