After almost 6 years as a coffee farming company, operating under the name of International Coffee Farms, we have recently expanded our operations, changed our name and launched our very own roasted specialty coffee brand, Cuatro Caminos Coffee Estates!
A brand that embraces everything we do: We are Farmers, we are specialty coffee Processing Specialists, and we are Roasters.
Finca CUATRO CAMINOS represents the origin of everything we do in Panama. This farm is the point where the coffee process begins and where everything comes together.
It was the first of our 11 farms, is home to our first and largest nursery, is where we conduct our research in our coffee testing laboratory—unique to Panamanian coffee growers—and where our state-of-the-art processing mill is located. Now, all the coffee from all of our farms is centrally processed and stored here.
In a traditional coffee-producing region, such as Boquete, CUATRO CAMINOS presents an opportunity for people from all over the world, and different regions within Panama, to develop a career in the Specialty Coffee industry.
We believe that our people, our terroir, and our investment in state-of-the-art technology are the keys to our consistent, high-quality Specialty Coffee.
From the beginning, our people have been our main asset.
When Cuatro Caminos Coffee Estates (previously known as International Coffee Farms) started, we knew that building a strong, knowledgeable and experienced team was the best and most sustainable way to establish a new Specialty Coffee Company in Boquete. We started as a small group of people, probably less than 5, and now we are more than 30, and growing!
On the farm and coffee mill side, we have Andrés López, our General Manager. Mr. Lopez has worked in the coffee business for the last 30 years developing his knowledge in coffee farming processes, planning, development, and engineering eco-friendly coffee farms. His experience also encompasses direct farm personnel management, increasing farm utilization and profitability, inventory and warehouse controls, product quality control, milling, and roasting processes.
Andrés has joined our team since the very beginning when Cuatro Caminos was our only farm. Andrés is also the in-house roaster of the company. He has more than 20 years of experience in the coffee roasting sector. From being an official roaster of the Best Of Panama competition to developing specialty coffee roasting profiles for different coffee houses.
Working directly on the farms, we have José Saraceni, Cuatro Caminos Foreman, and Agronomist. He is the person responsible for managing all the agricultural aspects of our 11 coffee farms in Boquete. An essential part of his job is to design and manage the coffee planting system, fertilization, and pest control programs, and maintenance works. During the harvest season, Mr. Saraceni is in charge of handling the logistics of this demanding activity, as well as managing all the staff working in the farms and the mill. Just like Andrés López, Mr. Saraceni has been with us since the beginning.
In the R&D department, we have Valentina Pedrotti. Our Biologist and coffee Value Chain Analyst, responsible for leading research and development. Ms. Pedrotti works directly on the farms and in the laboratory. Additionally, she assists in the coffee quality control area, developing all the protocols implemented in the coffee laboratory, as well as designing and managing our own internal traceability system. Currently, Ms. Pedrotti has been incorporated in the marketing team as the technical advisor and also as the contact person for potential customers interested in green and roasted specialty coffee.
Each cluster of our farms is managed directly by a Farm Supervisor. So far we have 3 supervisors divided into different regions, Horqueta, Volcancito and Jaramillo.
They are responsible for overseeing the workers directly on the farms. In Spanish, we call them “escuadrones” (troops). They know the people involved and the development of each activity on the farms. Among the activities, they are involved in the development of the internal roads on the farms, fertilization, pruning, pest control, shade control, planting coffee trees and shade trees.
On the other side, we have a construction and maintenance team led by Jaime Saraceni and Jairo Abrego. Both of them design and implement all the construction and maintenance of Cuatro Caminos’ infrastructure. In total, our farms, wet & dry processing mill and maintenance activities are supported by a team of 27 fixed workers.
Currently, we are building our sales team that is managed by our Chief Operating Officer, Daniele Levorato. Daniele started his career in the consulting world, working in public administration, with various European Projects and NGO’s and even ran his own high-end restaurant right here in Boquete. In early 2020 Daniele joined CUATRO CAMINOS with the purpose of contributing his experience in project management and gastronomy to help us grow our roasted coffee business exponentially.
CUATRO CAMINOS COFFEE ESTATES has been built by a strong, competitive group of professionals that is looking forward to producing high standard Specialty Coffee for you to enjoy at home!
Stay tuned for the next article in this new and exciting series!