Helm Coffee Roasters - Iris Estate Terroir Washed Gesha | Panama

Panama — Jamison Savage & Sasa Sestic Iris Estate Gesha "Terroir" (Washed)

Tastes Like — 🌸 Coffee Blossom • 🍊 Tangerine • 🍇 White Grape • 🍦 Vanilla

DETAILS

• Producers: Jamison Savage, Sasa Sestic (with Elvin Siew)
• Farm: Iris Estate
• Region: Volcán, Chiriquí, Panama
• Varietal: Gesha
• Process: Washed ("Terroir")
• Elevation: 2,200 masl (planted 1,800–2,300m)

INTRO Iris Estate sits in the volcanic highlands of Chiriquí, western Panama, with coffee planted between 1,800 and 2,300 meters — high enough that clouds move through the trees most afternoons. It's the newest project from Jamison Savage, the producer behind Finca Deborah and Morgan Estate, working alongside Sasa Sestic and Elvin Siew. Coffee blossom is the first thing you notice, there on the dry grounds before you pour. The cup runs bright and clean: tangerine up front, white grape through the middle, and a vanilla sweetness carrying the finish. In the cup: coffee blossom, tangerine, white grape, and vanilla.

THE PRODUCER Savage's approach at Iris is restraint: give the trees space, shade, and altitude, and intervene only where a human hand improves on what the land is already doing. The farm is young — every harvest so far has been better than the last, and this lot is why the relationship keeps going. Bought directly from Jamison.

Gesha traces back to wild forests in southwestern Ethiopia, but Panama is where it became the most sought-after variety in coffee. At Iris Estate, the trees are planted under shade at elevation, slowing cherry maturation and building the florals and structured acidity the variety is known for — lower yield, longer wait, better cup.

THE PROCESS Terroir is Savage's washed process, and the name is the point: nothing added, everything controlled. Only fully ripe cherries measuring above 21 Brix are picked, with fruit removed using low-water milling equipment. The coffee then shade-dries in dry-houses for more than ten days, slow enough that the parchment never cracks, with temperature, airflow, and humidity monitored throughout. Once it reaches 10.5-11% moisture, the coffee rests in GrainPro for up to 90 days to stabilise before hulling and density sorting.

This patience at every step — the high-Brix cherry selection, the slow shade-drying, and the extended 90-day rest — is the defining factor here. It's what produces such remarkable cleanliness, letting the coffee blossom aromatics and tangerine-white grape brightness come through with total clarity.

THE CUP Bright and clean — coffee blossom aromatics lead, tangerine up front, white grape through the middle, and a vanilla sweetness carrying the finish. Delicate, but not thin — washed Gesha from high-elevation Panama at its most unobstructed.

Flavour Notes 🌸 Coffee Blossom 🍊 Tangerine 🍇 White Grape 🍦 Vanilla