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

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/27, For professional barista exchanges, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style). Eleta Estate (Café de Eleta) is located in a small area of the Santa Clara region, just one kilometer from the Costa Rica border, near La Amistad International Park, this major primitive forest reserve, which belongs to the Central American ecological habitat. Eleta Estate was established...

For professional barista exchanges, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style).

Café de Eleta Estate

Café de Eleta is located in a small area 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 Eleta Estate began acquiring land in the 1970s, covering an area of approximately 130 hectares. Initially, it was engaged in vegetable cultivation and livestock operations. In 1995, it started planting coffee and was named Café de Eleta S.A., continuing to expand the land area until today it has reached 420 hectares, making it one of the large-scale coffee plantations in Panama and one of the best-known Panama coffees. Due to abundant water resources, it has a private hydroelectric power plant of 530KW, which not only supplies its own electricity needs but also sells excess 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 coffee has become the most popular country in Central America in the last 5-6 years, mainly because of a coffee tree variety called Geisha grown at Hacienda La Esmeralda, operated by the Peterson family, which has driven coffee enthusiasts wild. As a result, Geisha has been 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 annually in mid-May. Panama coffee is impressive not only in the Geisha variety but also in the continuous updates to mid-stage green bean processing methods, which include not only traditional washed processing but also the honey processing method popular in neighboring Costa Rica. Additionally, the gradually emerging natural processed beans in Central America are also produced in small quantities by Panama coffee, attracting the attention of coffee professionals worldwide.

Coffee was introduced to Panama in 1780 when Europeans brought the first Typica varieties. Afterward, this mysterious and exotic beverage 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 coffee beans feature pure and distinctive flavors. Due to its widespread popularity, most of Panama's premium coffee 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 produced in this area is characterized by mild, balanced flavors and has gradually attracted the attention of international experts and coffee enthusiasts. It is believed that it will soon rival the Boquete region.

Santa Clara: Fertile coffee farms are irrigated and nourished by the clear river water from the Chorerra waterfall, combined with the proximity to the Panama Canal, allowing fresh, pure Panama coffee to be conveniently transported to all parts of the world.

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

Coffee Characteristics

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

About Caturra Variety

Caturra is a natural variant of the Arabica Bourbon variety, discovered in Brazil in 1937. Its plant is not as tall as Bourbon, being more compact. Due to inheriting Bourbon's bloodline, it has relatively weak disease resistance but higher yields than Bourbon. Although discovered in Brazil, Caturra is not suitable for growing in Brazil and therefore was not cultivated on a large scale there. Instead, it became widely popular in Central and South American regions, with countries like Colombia, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua planting Caturra extensively.

Compared to these botanical characteristics, you might be more concerned about Caturra's flavor. The higher the altitude where Caturra is grown, the better the quality, but correspondingly, the lower the yield. When lightly roasted, Caturra exhibits obvious acidic aromas and overall brightness. With proper processing, sweetness can be expressed very well, but the coffee body is relatively lower compared to Bourbon, and the cleanliness of the mouthfeel is somewhat lacking.

Typically, Caturra produces red berries, but in extremely rare regions, there are yellow Caturra varieties. For example, Hawaii cultivates a very small amount of yellow Caturra.

Coffee Grading Systems

Currently, the grading systems for coffee bean production regions worldwide are not unified. Each coffee-producing country has its own grading system and grading names, so you might see the following terms on coffee packaging: "SHB," "AA+," "Supremo," "Extra-Fancy," "Peaberry," etc. These are coffee bean grading names. Sometimes, roasted coffee beans sold on the market indicate the grading of single-origin coffee. The more detailed the coffee grading information, usually the better the coffee quality. However, general coffee products typically do not display this information.

Brewing Recommendations

Hand-pour Panama Café de Eleta. 15g of coffee, medium grind (Fujiroyal grinder #4), V60 dripper, water temperature 88-89°C. First pour 30g of water, let 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.