Panama Flint Estate Coffee Bean Characteristics and Brewing Methods

Coffee Information

Processing Method: Honey process

Variety: Catuai

Processing Plant: Finca Piedra de Fuego (Firestone Estate)

Flavor Notes: Lemon, orange, cranberry, green tea

Cupping Notes: Dried-fruit aroma, rich fruit acidity, pronounced sweetness on entry, lemon, orange, cranberry, green tea, an even and smooth texture, gentle with subtle floral notes, and a long-lasting sweet aftertaste

About Catuai

Catuai is an artificially bred hybrid of Caturra and Mundo Novo. It shows good resistance to natural stresses, wind and rain in particular.

The Catuai tree is relatively low-growing, and its cherries cling more firmly to the branch than those of many other varieties, which makes picking harder. The fruit comes in both red and yellow forms, and to date no clear taste advantage has been found in the yellow. In fact, some cuppers have found that while coffee from certain yellow-fruited lots shows good acidity, the cleanliness of the cup falls short of the red.

Catuai was bred in Brazil and is now planted widely throughout Central America.

Because Catuai is a second-generation hybrid—itself a cross of Mundo Novo and Caturra—it inherits the compact tree height of its parent line. The name comes from an indigenous word meaning "very good," and as a member of the Arabica family it yields relatively well.

Panama Coffee Regions

Panama's premium coffee grows in the west of the country, near the Costa Rican border and close to the Pacific. The most famous coffee comes from the Boquete district of Chiriquí province, with Volcán, Santa Clara, and Candela also well known; other regions include the David, Remacimeinto, Bugaba, and Tole districts. Only coffee grown between 1,300 and 1,500 meters qualifies as specialty coffee.

Brewing Instructions

Hand-pour for Panama Firestone Estate: 15 g of coffee at a medium grind (setting 4 on a Fuji Royal grinder), brewed on a V60 with water at 88-89°C. Start with 30 g of water and let it bloom for 27 seconds. Pour to 105 g and pause. Once the water level drops to halfway down the bed, continue pouring slowly up to 225 g, and avoid the tail section. Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, total extraction 2:00.

Product Specifications

Panama Jurutungo Honey Catuai

Country: Panama

Grade: SHB

Region: Jurutungo

Roast Level: Medium roast

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Honey-process Catuai sits right at the meeting point of brightness and sweetness, and if that is the direction your palate is heading, FrontStreet Coffee's Brazilian lineup offers a useful point of comparison. As the world's largest coffee producer, Brazil turns out beans with moderate acidity and a beautifully balanced blend of sweetness, bitterness, and body—ideal at a medium roast, where nutty aromatics lead and the cup stays mellow with just a hint of acidity.

FrontStreet's pulped-natural Cerrado Red Bourbon is the classic Brazilian single origin: grown in the renowned Cerrado zone, it shows aromas of cream, peanut, toasted bread, caramel, and hazelnut, with a round, non-acidic cup and only a light bitterness. It works as a pour-over but also shines in a moka pot, as an espresso SOE, in a siphon, or a French press. For something rarer, FrontStreet's Fazenda Rainha Yellow Bourbon from Mogiana—where fertile red volcanic soils feed the fruit—offers a cleaner fruit character and a sugarcane sweetness plus chocolate notes you will not find in most other origins.

• FrontStreet Cerrado Red Bourbon (pulped natural): medium roast; cream, peanut, toasted bread, caramel, and hazelnut—versatile across pour-over, moka pot, espresso SOE, siphon, and French press.
• FrontStreet Fazenda Rainha Yellow Bourbon: rare yellow Bourbon mutation from Mogiana; sugarcane sweetness, fruit, and chocolate.
• Brewing tip: low-acid, balanced Brazilian beans also anchor many of FrontStreet's espresso blends, adding chocolate, cream, and extraction stability.