New iInteractive BEC museum in Panama celebrates cacao, coffee, and beer

In the heart of the historic Casco Antiguo of Panama City, a new cultural space is redefining how to experience the country’s identity through its flavors. The BEC Experience Center is an interactive museum offering a sensory journey through three emblematic products of Panamanian culture: cacao, coffee, and beer.  

More than a traditional museum, BEC has been designed as an immersive experience that combines technology, storytelling, and gastronomy to connect visitors with the country’s history and creativity. The journey integrates projections, aromas, sounds, and interactive spaces that allow guests to discover the origin, evolution, and cultural impact of these three beverages and foods that are part of Panama’s national imagination.

A journey through the flavors that tell Panama’s story   

The center’s concept is to show that Panama is much more than its canal or its beaches. Through themed rooms, visitors immerse themselves in narratives that reveal how products like cacao, specialty coffee, and beer are part of the country’s economic and social identity.

The museum highlights, for example, the international projection of Panamanian coffee, considered among the best in the world for its quality and growing conditions, as well as the chocolate-making tradition and the growth of the local craft beer industry.

The self-guided tour, lasting approximately one hour, allows visitors to experience the production process, characteristic aromas, and human stories behind each product, combining culture, innovation, and entertainment in a single space.  

Three spaces to experience and share  

The BEC Experience Center is organized into distinct environments designed to experience Panama from multiple perspectives:

• Museum, where the immersive sensory experience takes place.

• Community, a space to taste coffee, beer, or local cuisine.

• Lab, focused on cultural activities and participatory experiences.

Additionally, the complex includes social meeting areas, a shop offering products inspired by Panamanian culture, and gastronomic spaces with views of Casco Viejo, reinforcing its role as a hub connecting tourism, culture, and creativity.

A museum to feel Panama  

The project was conceived as a private, sensory museum with the goal of promoting the history and significance of products that represent Panamanian identity, offering a contemporary cultural experience based on interaction and emotional learning.

With this initiative, Panama adds a new tourist attraction that combines technological innovation, gastronomic heritage, and cultural storytelling. The BEC Experience Center doesn’t just inform, it invites visitors to smell, taste, listen, and feel the country.  

This initiative confirms that, in the era of experiential tourism, discovering a destination can begin with the palate.