CAFÉ RUIZ

Complete tour by reservation at 9am and 1pm, US$30. “Roasting circuit” at 8am, US$9.

Interview conducted by Petit Futé in 2023

When was Café Ruiz born?

CAFE RUIZ became a commercial brand in 1983. Another phase of family development began in an industry born in Boquete, Chiriquí in the mid 1800s. It was in the late 1800s that the González Jaramillo family arrived in the foothills of the Barú volcano, in the Boquete Valley, from Tinajas in the Dolega district - a district founded in 1671.

These families, descendants of the Doraces (local indigenous people), populated the valley and started their activities with coffee and other diverse agricultural products. In 1911, Rosa González Jaramillo, a second generation coffee grower, married Don Paulino Ruiz De Gracia. At the insistence of Doña Rosa González de Ruiz, in 1917, they acquired a coffee farm where Doña Rosa founded the first commercial flower garden in Boquete. inherited the first gardening attempts made by her mother, Claudia Jaramillo Montenegro. It was in the second decade of the 1900s that they built a coffee fruit processing plant to serve their farm and neighbors.

The family legacy in coffee was continued by Mr. Plinio Ruiz González, a third generation coffee farmer, who became, with his family, a coffee producer, processor, exporter and roaster. Today, the Ruiz family continues the tradition of Boqueteño coffee.

What types of coffee do you offer?

The CAFE RUIZ brand represents the heart of the regional coffee community, as it was created as an icon of quality to be enjoyed locally. It is a message of opportunity for those of us who work in the coffee value chain and a portrait of the capacity of our mountain regions. In this sense, the taste design responds to two profiles: the Altura coffee and the Altura export type coffee. Then, the option of roasting profiles identified as: European roast, Latin roast, Italian roast and French roast was presented. All this as options to expand the taste culture of those who appreciate Panamanian coffee and for those whose curiosity leads them to prepare this product individually for a personalized pleasure.

What is its specificity?

The Ruiz family, now in its fifth generation, has specialized in various coffee product offerings for the international market that are also offered in the local market. There is the Boquete Valley Gourmet Coffee brand, with its Specialty Coffees and Flavored Coffees. A window into the diverse possibilities that this region offers with its varieties and special preparations. The objective is to optimize the existing resource and with it, to raise the level of knowledge of the work teams.

The first coffee growers of Boquete and the following generations have taken care of the traditional approach of an innovative community that unites those of us who participate in the whole chain, with great respect and admiration for what the green mountains, the crystal clear water and the fertile lands produce. And it is that not only the coffee is good, the oranges, yucos, bananas, etc. they are also good. For all this, over time covered with colors by the flowers that are also part of this aroma of "coffee roasted in a pot" of Boquete.

It's art, it's science... it's mastery, it's technique... and in the end, nature always surprises us as the climates dance to the unexpected tunes of the winds with their clouds or clear skies that encompass the growth, blooming and ripening of the fruit to cherry red. The manual harvesting invites the expectation of a sip that reflects the climatic history and the taste characteristics of the varieties grown.

cAFE RUIZ is an opportunity to read what unites us. It is a reflection of ourselves through the story it tells us and through the history we build. But above all, it is the love of past generations and the heritage of future generations. It is the result of identifying our taste and the gift that we want to share as each one's contribution to a pleasant world. It is the beginning of learning how to taste