Panama Illeta Estate SHB Caturra Specialty Coffee Bean: Origin, Development, History and Culture

Coffee first arrived in Panama in 1780, when Europeans brought the initial batch of Typica trees. Since then this mysterious, captivating drink has won over Panamanian palates, and farmers began cultivating it widely. Panamanian coffee is exceptionally smooth, with full-bodied but lightweight beans and a perfectly balanced acidity, and its premium lots offer pure, distinctive flavors. Such is its popularity that most of Panama's high-quality coffee is exported to France and Finland.

Panama's Main Coffee Growing Regions

Boquete Region: This area produces coffee in large quantities and at excellent quality, making it Panama's most productive and highest-quality coffee region.

Volcan Region: Coffee from here is known for a mild, balanced flavor. It has gradually drawn the attention of international experts and coffee lovers and is expected to rival Boquete before long.

Santa Clara Region: Fertile plantations are irrigated and nourished by the clear water of the Chorerra waterfall, and with the Panama Canal close by, fresh, pure Panamanian coffee can be shipped around the world with ease.

Piedra de Candela Region: This area is considered to hold the greatest potential for developing high-quality specialty coffee.

This lot offers the purest original flavors. The Eleta Estate SHB Washed coffee is harvested from high-altitude Caturra trees and shows intense fruity and floral aromas. Its flavor profile includes creamy bread, apricot-kernel sweetness, cane-sugar sweetness, rounded acidity, a complex aroma, balanced sweet-and-sour notes, and a pleasant mouthfeel.

Manufacturer: FrontStreet Coffee
Ingredients: House-roasted
Shelf Life: 30 days
Net Weight: 227 g
Packaging: Bulk
Taste: Neutral
Bean State: Roasted coffee beans
Sugar Content: Sugar-free
Origin: Panama
Coffee Type: Other

Panama MC Santa Clara Eleta SHB Washed

Country: Panama
Grade: SHB
Region: Santa Clara
Altitude: Average 1,600 meters
Processing Method: Washed
Variety: Caturra
Estate: Eleta Estate
Flavor: Creamy bread, apricot-kernel sweetness, rounded acidity

Over the past 5-6 years Panama has become the hottest coffee country in Central America, largely thanks to the Geisha variety grown at Hacienda La Esmeralda, run by the Peterson family. That coffee drove enthusiasts wild and earned Geisha a reputation as the world's finest bean. As a result, the Panama Cup of Excellence auction is held separately from the Central and South American cupping competitions, making Panama the earliest auction country and placing its event each year in mid-May. Panama impresses not only through Geisha but also through constant innovation in processing: beyond the traditional washed method, producers have adopted the honey processing popular in neighboring Costa Rica, and they turn out small quantities of naturally processed beans that are steadily gaining ground in Central America and drawing attention from coffee professionals worldwide.

Cafe de Eleta occupies a small pocket of the Santa Clara region, just one kilometer from the Costa Rican border and close to La Amistad International Park, a major primary-forest reserve that forms part of the Central American ecological habitat. The estate began acquiring land in the 1970s and grew to roughly 130 hectares. It started out in vegetable growing and livestock, and coffee planting began in 1995 under the name Cafe de Eleta S.A. The estate kept expanding and now covers 420 hectares, making it one of Panama's large-scale coffee plantations and one of its best-known premium producers. With abundant water, the estate runs a private 530KW hydroelectric plant that covers its own electricity needs and sells the surplus to Distribucion de Electricidad Chiriqui S.A. for the grid.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If this washed Santa Clara cup appeals to you, the natural companion is the FrontStreet Boquete Geisha, an estate-level Geisha grown at 1,600 meters on fertile volcanic soil in the misty Boquete mountains. It is a gentle introduction to Geisha, with jasmine, green tea, honey, citrus and orange in the cup.

For a little more complexity at an accessible price, the FrontStreet Panama Butterfly is built from Geisha, Caturra and Catuai grown on the Baru volcano in Boquete. Panama's microclimate, wide day-night temperature swings and volcanic rock soil give the coffee impressive body, citrus acidity and Geisha's jasmine aroma, and it works well as either a pour-over or a cold brew.

And if you want the highest tier of Geisha, the FrontStreet Emerald Estate Red Label is harvested from a single plot above 1,700 meters with a cupping score of 91, offering a refined orange-blossom honey character.