Coffee Sketcher

Mama Cata

Properties3
descriptionA 50-hectare estate in Boquete, Panama, farmed since 1911 and owned by the Garrido family — best known for Mokkita, the obscure variety that beat the field in the non-Geisha category at Best of Panama two years running.
tagsfarm, panama, geisha
aliasesMama Cata Estate, Finca Mama Cata, Garrido's Coffee & Estates

7 min read

Mama Cata

Mama Cata is a 50-hectare coffee estate in Boquete, Chiriquí, Panama, owned and run by the Garrido family. Coffee has been grown on the land since 1911, which makes it one of the older estates in Panama’s premium highlands (Fathom Coffee, accessed 2026-07-23). It sits at 1,500–1,750 metres above sea level on the slopes of the Barú volcano, in the same cluster of highland farms as Hacienda La Esmeralda and Elida Estate (Brisa Trade, accessed 2026-07-23).

The estate is famous for one thing above all: Mokkita, a little-known variety that won the non-Geisha category at Best of Panama in 2020 and again in 2021 — a category that normally rewards workmanlike Caturra and Catuaí, not headline coffees.

Story

Mama Cata is named after Catalina Fitchet, a former owner remembered locally as “Mama Cata.” The Garrido Pérez family bought the farm in 1997 and kept her name on it (Fathom Coffee, accessed 2026-07-23).

Mama Cata is the flagship of a four-farm group the family calls Garrido’s Coffee & Estates, all of them in Boquete (The Visitor Panama, accessed 2026-07-23):

FarmMicro-regionAltitude
Mama CataAlto Quiel1,500–1,750 m
Finca VolcancitoVolcancito1,200–1,475 m
Finca MargaritaAlto Lino1,200–1,475 m
Finca El PalomarLa Catera1,200–1,475 m

Mama Cata is the highest of the four, which is why it is the one that produces the competition lots. The family also roasts and sells under the name Garrido Specialty Coffee Roasters, and describes itself as second-generation management with more than 50 years in coffee.

Planted varieties are Caturra, Catuaí, Typica, Geisha and Mokkita (The Visitor Panama; Brisa Trade, both accessed 2026-07-23) — see Caturra, Catuaí, Typica and Geisha.

Mokkita — the farm’s signature

Mokkita is the variety Mama Cata is known for, and its story is unusual. It was spotted in 2008 by the Japanese taster Mamoru Taguchi during a private cupping — meaning it was found in the cup first, by someone tasting something odd and asking what it was, rather than planted deliberately from a known pedigree (The Visitor Panama, accessed 2026-07-23).

It entered Best of Panama for the first time in 2020 and won its category outright. That category — the one for everything that isn’t Geisha — is where Panama’s competition normally has the least drama, so a 91-point winner was a genuine surprise. One international judge on the panel scored it 93 (The Visitor Panama, accessed 2026-07-23); the final agreed score was 91 (Brisa Trade, accessed 2026-07-23). It won again in 2021, this time at 92 points (Brisa Trade, accessed 2026-07-23), and its back-to-back wins are separately noted by roasters buying the farm’s other lots (Fathom Coffee, accessed 2026-07-23).

A useful cross-check on the date: the 2020 competition was the XXIV (24th) edition, and Best of Panama’s own site calls the 2026 competition the XXX (30th) (bestofpanama.org, accessed 2026-07-23). Those two line up exactly, which supports the 2020 attribution — and supports the edition-numbering question already open on the Best of Panama note.

Notable lots / records

YearLotScorePriceAuction / Buyer
2020Mama Cata Mokkita, natural — traditional (non-Geisha) category91 (one judge: 93)not publishedBest of Panama — 1st place, XXIV edition
2021Mama Cata Mokkita — same category92not publishedBest of Panama — 1st place

No auction price for any Mama Cata lot appears in any source consulted. Unlike Elida Estate or Hacienda La Esmeralda, whose record prices are reported worldwide, Mama Cata’s wins sit in the quieter category and its lots reach buyers mostly through ordinary green-coffee trade.

What roasters buy

Mama Cata sells through specialty roasters rather than headline auctions, and its listings split into two halves — expensive Geisha and affordable everything-else:

  • Fathom Coffee (US) — “Cañazal” Caturra, washed: the cherries are pulped, fermented and rinsed with spring water. Lemony brightness, delicate florals, nutty malt, clean sweet finish. $40 a jar, roasted (Fathom Coffee, accessed 2026-07-23).
  • Burman Coffee Traders (US) — the same Cañazal Caturra as green coffee, pitched explicitly as “very highly rated but not a competition winner, much more affordable” — the honest positioning for a decorated farm’s everyday lot.
  • Burman Coffee Traders — Beneficio Arriba Geisha natural from the high Arenal field. “Beneficio Arriba” is the farm’s upper mill; the lot is dried whole-cherry on raised beds after cherry-by-cherry selection and density sorting.
  • Proud Mary (Australia) — Mama Cata Estate Geisha natural, 1,500–1,700 m, dried on custom raised beds at the family mill. Tastes of florals, kiwi, mandarin and tropical fruit.
  • Willoughby’s Coffee & Tea (US) — a washed Geisha from the “Velo” plot at 1,750 m, harvested 24 and 26 February 2018, dried in parchment on tables.

To verify

  • Who actually runs the farm. Roaster pages name José David Garrido Pérez as the grower (Burman; Willoughby’s, via research report — both pages blocked our fetch). But Proud Mary says the farms are overseen by Liliana and Gissell Garrido, daughters of the late Teodoro Garrido. These may be different roles (grower vs. owners) or different eras. Unconfirmed.
  • When the family got the farm. Three roaster sources say the Garrido Pérez family purchased Mama Cata in 1997; Proud Mary instead says Teodoro Garrido started the family’s first Boquete farm in 1959 and acquired the farm now called Mama Cata in the mid-1970s. These cannot both be the plain reading. Possibly an internal family transfer in 1997. Do not quote a single acquisition date as settled.
  • Spelling of the woman the farm is named for. Fathom and Burman say Catalina Fitchet; Willoughby’s says Catalina Fisher (via research report). We have not found a Panamanian civil or land record either way.
  • Exact competition category name. The 2020 and 2021 wins are described as “traditional,” “traditional natural” and “traditional natural coffees and with processes” by different sources. Best of Panama’s official site publishes no browsable archive of past results (accessed 2026-07-23), so we cannot confirm the official label, nor the 2021 score of 92, against primary results.
  • Which sector the farm is in. The family’s own profile places Mama Cata in the Alto Quiel micro-region; several roaster pages place it in Los Naranjos. Both are Boquete highland areas and the two labels may overlap in practice, but they are not the same place-name.
  • The “Velo” plot is not El Velo. Willoughby’s lists a “Velo” plot at Mama Cata; El Velo is a separate farm belonging to Hacienda La Esmeralda. Do not merge them. The Mama Cata “Velo” plot appears in only one source.
  • Neighbouring-farm claim. That Mama Cata borders Hacienda La Esmeralda and Elida Estate comes from roaster copy, not a map or land registry — the El Velo note carries the same caveat from the other direction.
  • No official website. The family’s own profile lists only Instagram, email and WhatsApp — no site. Any page claiming to be “the official Mama Cata website” should be treated as unverified.

Sources

  1. Best of Panama — official competition site — accessed 2026-07-23
  2. The Visitor Panama — Garrido Specialty Coffee Roasters: coffee tradition of international success — accessed 2026-07-23
  3. Brisa Trade — Garrido’s Coffee & Estates farm profile — accessed 2026-07-23
  4. Fathom Coffee — Panama Boquete Mama Cata Cañazal Washed — accessed 2026-07-23
  5. Burman Coffee Traders — Mama Cata Estate, Beneficio Arriba, Geisha Natural — accessed 2026-07-23 (fetch blocked, HTTP 403; cited via research report)
  6. Burman Coffee Traders — Mama Cata Estate, Caturra Washed “Cañazal” — accessed 2026-07-23 (cited via research report)
  7. Proud Mary Coffee — Panama, Mama Cata Estate, Geisha, Natural — accessed 2026-07-23 (fetch rate-limited, HTTP 429; cited via research report)
  8. Willoughby’s Coffee & Tea — Panama Mama Cata Geisha Washed — accessed 2026-07-23 (fetch blocked, HTTP 403; cited via research report)

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