Differences, Distinctions, and Awards of Panama Eleta Estate SHB Caturra Premium Coffee Beans

For those who want to go deeper into professional barista knowledge and bean selection, this piece is a useful reference.

Café de Eleta Estate

Café de Eleta lies in a small part of the Santa Clara region, just one kilometer from the Costa Rican border, near La Amistad International Park, a major primary forest reserve that belongs to the Central American ecological habitat. The estate began acquiring land in the 1970s, covering about 130 hectares. It initially grew vegetables and raised livestock. In 1995 it started planting coffee and was named Café de Eleta S.A., continuing to expand until it reached 420 hectares today, making it one of Panama's large-scale coffee plantations and one of the best-known Panamanian coffees. Thanks to abundant water, it has a private 530KW hydroelectric plant that not only meets its own electricity needs but sells surplus power to Distribución de Electricidad Chiriquí S.A. for grid connection.

Coffee Information

Variety: Caturra

Estate: Café de Eleta

Flavor: Creamy bread, apricot kernel sweetness, rounded acidity

Panamanian Coffee Overview

Panama has become Central America's most popular coffee country over the last 5-6 years, mainly because of a variety called Geisha grown at Hacienda La Esmeralda, run by the Peterson family, which drove coffee enthusiasts wild. As a result, Geisha is acclaimed as the world's top coffee bean. For this reason, the Panama Coffee Excellence Cup auction is independent of the Central and South American cupping competition and was the earliest auction country, held every year in mid-May. Panama impresses not only through Geisha but also through continual updates to green bean processing, including not just traditional washed processing but the honey method popular in neighboring Costa Rica, and the gradually emerging natural-processed beans in Central America, which Panama also produces in small amounts, drawing attention from coffee professionals worldwide.

Coffee came to Panama in 1780, when Europeans brought the first Typica varieties. This mysterious, exotic beverage then conquered the senses of Panamanians, and locals began widespread cultivation. Panama coffee is very smooth, with full, lightweight beans and perfectly balanced acidity; its high-quality beans have pure, distinctive flavors. Because of its popularity, most of Panama's premium beans are exported to France and Finland.

Panama Coffee Growing Regions

Boquete: This region produces abundant, high-quality coffee, making it the area with the highest production and best quality in Panama.

Volcán: Coffee here is characterized by mild, balanced flavors and has gradually drawn the attention of international experts and drinkers. It is expected to rival the Boquete region before long.

Santa Clara: Fertile farms are irrigated and nourished by clear river water from the Chorerra waterfall, and combined with proximity to the Panama Canal, fresh, pure Panamanian coffee can be conveniently transported worldwide.

Piedra de Candela: This region is considered to have the greatest potential for developing high-quality specialty coffee.

Coffee Characteristics

This batch has the purest, most original flavor. Because the SHB washed coffee from Café de Eleta is harvested from high-altitude Catuai beans, it carries strong fruity and floral aromas. The flavor includes creamy bread, apricot kernel sweetness, cane sugar sweetness, rounded acidity, a complex aroma, balanced sweet and sour, and a pleasant mouthfeel.

About Caturra Variety

Caturra is a natural variant of the Arabica Bourbon variety, discovered in Brazil in 1937. Its plant is shorter and more compact than Bourbon. Because it carries Bourbon lineage, its disease resistance is relatively weak, but it yields more than Bourbon. Although found in Brazil, Caturra doesn't grow well there and was never widely planted. Instead it became popular across Central and South America, with Colombia, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua planting it extensively.

More than the botanical details, you may care about Caturra's flavor. The higher it grows, the better the quality, but the lower the yield. Lightly roasted, Caturra shows an obvious acidic aroma and overall brightness. With proper processing its sweetness comes through very well, but its body is lower than Bourbon's, and mouthfeel cleanliness is somewhat lacking.

Usually Caturra produces red berries, but in extremely rare regions there is yellow Caturra; Hawaii, for instance, cultivates a very small amount.

Coffee Grading Systems

The grading systems for coffee-producing regions are not unified worldwide. Each country has its own system and names, so you may see terms on packaging such as "SHB," "AA+," "Supremo," "Extra-Fancy," and "Peaberry." These are bean grading names. Sometimes roasted beans on the market indicate the grade of a single origin. The more detailed the grading information, the better the quality usually is, though general coffee products typically don't display it.

Brewing Recommendations

Hand-pour Panama Café de Eleta. 15g of coffee, medium grind (Fujiroyal grinder #4), V60 dripper, water at 88-89°C. First pour 30g of water and bloom for 27 seconds. Pour to 105g and pause. Wait until the water level drops to half, then continue pouring slowly until reaching 225g. Avoid the tail end. Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, extraction time 2:00.

Product Information

Manufacturer: FrontStreet Coffee

Roasted In: FrontStreet Coffee's own roastery

Sourcing: Directly imported Panamanian green beans

Ingredients: In-house roasted

Shelf Life: 30 days

Net Weight: 227g

Packaging: Bulk

Taste: Medium

Bean State: Roasted coffee beans

Sugar Content: Sugar-free

Origin: Panama

Coffee Type: Other

Product Details

Panama MC Santa Clara Eleta SHB Washed

Country: Panama

Grade: SHB

Region: Santa Clara

Altitude: Average 1,600 meters

Processing Method: Washed

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Panama's estate coffees and its Geisha heritage go hand in hand. These FrontStreet Panamanian selections are a good way to explore that world.

FrontStreet Esmeralda Red Label Geisha

The formal name is "Esmeralda Special." Grown at 1600-1800 meters, every lot must score above 90 points in cupping and carries its own number, with all the beans in a lot coming from a single small plot, so buyers can choose a batch that matches their preferred nuances.

FrontStreet Esmeralda Green Label Geisha

Originally called "Private Collection" and nicknamed for its green label, this series does not stress detailed plot information the way the Red Label does. Instead it blends batches from multiple plots to express the estate's signature high-altitude Geisha character, and its friendlier price makes it excellent value.

FrontStreet Grana Estate Geisha

Grana is a rare Ethiopian estate that grows only a single variety. This Geisha comes from the Grana processing station at the border of the Kochore and Grana Abaya regions, established in 2014 and run by Mr. Israel Degefa, with coffee growing over 700 hectares. Hand-picked, fully ripe cherries dry on raised beds for 14-20 days depending on the weather. Roasted medium-light, it shows bright citrus acidity, elegant ginger-lily aroma, and the full sweetness of ripe fruit, with a delicate, creamy body and Geisha's signature refined finish.