Karin De La Rosa of Totumas Coffee. Handout

Filipina-American Karin De La Rosa from Panama-based Totumas Coffee will be in Manila for an afternoon of coffee sessions.

De La Rosa and the coffee beans from her family's farm played an instrumental role in the recently concluded World Brewers Cup held in Jakarta.

The competition routine of World Brewers Cup 2025 Champion George Jinyang Peng from China centered on controlling temperature from the roast to the brew, until it gets sipped by the coffee drinker.  

An integral part of his presentation was his "One Coffee, Three Roasts" section where he talked at length about the Totumas Coffee Geisha beans, roasting them at three temperatures to fully explore floral, tropical fruit, and subtle sweet flavors of the coffee, then blending them to brew his winning cups. 

De La Rosa with World Brewers Cup 2025 champion George Jinyang Peng from China. Handout

Though De La Rosa was born in Parañaque, she grew up in Seattle. She worked as a Japanese restaurant cook in New York before she moved to Panama.

Her parents, uncle, and aunt bought what was then a cattle farm back in 2008. The new owners reforested and rehabilitated the land with coffee. 

De La Rosa became a full-time coffee producer and processor during the farm's first harvest in 2018. She credits her dad, an ecologist by passion, for instilling her love for nature through frequent birding trips.

The family grows Typica, Catuai, Caturra, and Geisha coffee varieties on the farm. The 2023 harvest of their Geisha that Peng used for the World Brewers Cup won the Best of Panama competition that year, and that is no small feat. In recent years, Panama has become a powerhouse in specialty coffee, with the best farms growing very high-quality geisha varieties.

Bringing her for a one-afternoon only session is El Nido-based coffee roaster Lost Islands Center for Kape. De La Rosa met owner-roaster Sly Samonte back in 2016 while she was traveling in the Philippines, and has kept in touch ever since. This Manila stop was planned by the two friends as De La Rosa is in Asia for the Jakarta World of Coffee.

De La Rosa will talk about her life on the farm in Panama, and brew three Mount Totumas coffees for guests. 

There is a post Geisha tasting session which is already sold out -- perhaps a sign for De La Rosa to come back and bring some more of her award-winning coffee for more Filipino coffeephiles to try out.

"Lost Islands Center for Kape presents: Meet the Woman Behind the Winning Brew" with Totumas Coffee producer Karin De La Rosa will be held on May 29 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Check @lick_fc on Instagram for more information, slot availability and pricing, as well as inquiries. Visit the website of Totumas Coffee for more information. 

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