Coffee Sketcher

Carmen Estate

Properties3
descriptionThe Volcán farm that set the 2023 Best of Panama record at $10,005/kg — a four-generation Franceschi legacy now owned by China's Dashang Group.
tagsfarm, panama, geisha
aliasesFinca Carmen, Carmen Estate Panama, Café Carmen

4 min read

Carmen Estate

Carmen Estate is a coffee farm in the Paso Ancho Valley, Volcán region of Panama’s Chiriquí province, near the Costa Rican border and west of the Barú Volcano (Sucafina, accessed 2026-07-22). It was built by the Franceschi family over roughly seventy years and is best known for setting the highest price in Best of Panama history at the 2023 auction — a Geisha lot that sold for $10,005 per kilogram (Tea & Coffee Trade Journal, accessed 2026-07-22).

Story

The Franceschi family emigrated from Corsica, France to Panama in 1800, working over generations in cattle ranching, farming, and shipbuilding before turning to coffee (Sucafina, accessed 2026-07-22). The coffee estate began around 1950, when Carmen Franceschi suggested to her husband Efrain that they plant coffee on the family’s land; they named the farm in her honour (Sucafina, accessed 2026-07-22).

The farm sits between roughly 1,650 and 1,900 metres above sea level on rich volcanic soil, with heavy rainfall and a big day-to-night temperature swing — the kind of high, cool terroir that suits Geisha, the intensely floral variety behind Panama’s coffee fame (Sucafina, accessed 2026-07-22). Today the farm is run by Carlos Aguilera Franceschi, the third generation of the family in coffee, who stayed on as managing director even after the ownership change described below.

For most of its life Carmen Estate was a family-owned operation known for looking after its workers — healthcare, safe conditions, and schooling for workers’ children (who were kept out of farm labour) — though this reputation rests mainly on roaster and importer write-ups rather than independent reporting (Forebears Coffee, accessed 2026-07-22).

The 2023 Best of Panama record

At the 2023 Best of Panama auction, Carmen Estate submitted a 25-kilogram washed Geisha that scored 96.5 and sold for 250,125 for the single lot, the highest price paid for any lot in the competition’s history up to that point (Tea & Coffee Trade Journal, accessed 2026-07-22; Global Coffee Report, accessed 2026-07-22). The cup was described as floral, jasmine, sweet orange, lemongrass, and sugarcane — the aromatic, tea-like signature of top Panamanian Geisha.

The lot was bought by a consortium of international specialty buyers, including Coffee Tech Limited (New Zealand), Saza Coffee (Japan), Gemilai/Corrima, CHG & MoveRiverCoffee, Difference Coffee, L’escargot d’or, and The Espresso Lab (Tea & Coffee Trade Journal, accessed 2026-07-22). The record briefly stood as the Best of Panama high before being surpassed — Elida Estate’s 2024 “Torre” lot reached ~$10,013/kg, and Hacienda La Esmeralda’s 2025 washed Geisha went far higher.

The 2023 auction overall was itself a record, with 6,081 bids across 50 lots and a total value of 868.22/kg (Tea & Coffee Trade Journal, accessed 2026-07-22).

Ownership

Carmen Estate is now owned by the Dashang Group, a conglomerate based in Dalian, China — a purchase confirmed on the importer’s current offering page (Sucafina, accessed 2026-07-22; Ditto Specialty Coffee, accessed 2026-07-22). Day-to-day management stayed with Carlos Aguilera Franceschi, so the coffee’s style and quality control carried over. The sale is one visible sign of surging Asian demand for Panamanian Geisha.

Notable lots / records

YearLotScorePriceAuction / Buyer
2023Washed Geisha, 25 kg96.5250,125 total)Best of Panama — highest lot in BoP history at the time; international buyer consortium

To verify

  • Exact founding/establishment year. The importer’s account puts the coffee estate’s start at 1950; the engine report’s timeline separately lists 1960 as the year the farm was “formally established.” Confirm whether 1950 (proposal/planting) and 1960 (formal establishment) are distinct events or a single date before quoting either.
  • Year of the Dashang Group acquisition. Ownership by Dashang Group is confirmed, but the specific year (reported only as “the early 2020s”) is not. Confirm the acquisition date.
  • “Consistent top-5/top-10 BoP finishes.” This claim appears only in roaster/importer marketing copy (Forebears Coffee, accessed 2026-07-22; Panama Varietals, accessed 2026-07-22), not in independent competition results. Check specific placements against official bestofpanama.org results before stating it as fact.
  • (no official website found)

Sources

  1. Best of Panama — official competition site — accessed 2026-07-23
  2. Tea & Coffee Trade Journal — Best of Panama competition and auction sets new lot record — accessed 2026-07-23
  3. Global Coffee Report — Best of Panama releases record-breaking auction results — accessed 2026-07-23
  4. Sucafina — Carmen Estate Geisha Natural offering — accessed 2026-07-23
  5. Ditto Specialty Coffee — Panama Carmen Estate — accessed 2026-07-23
  6. Forebears Coffee — Legacy of Panama: Carmen Estate — accessed 2026-07-23
  7. Panama Varietals — Cafetalera Fernández — accessed 2026-07-23

Graph View