How Much Does Panama Elida Cost? Panama Elida Coffee Price

Hand Brew Brewing Guide

Panama hand brew: 15 g of coffee grounds, medium grind (Fujiyama ghost-tooth burr grinder, setting 4), V60 dripper, water at 88-89°C. First pour 30 g of water and let it bloom for 27 seconds. Continue pouring to 105 g, then pause. Once the water level in the coffee bed drops to halfway, continue. Pour slowly until you reach 225 g in total, discarding the tail end. Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, extraction time 2:00.

Flavor Notes

Rich tropical fruit, strawberry aroma, black plum, apricot, peach, longan, with an intense fruity wine-like aroma.

Product Information

• Brand: FrontStreet Coffee
• Net Weight: 227 g
• Packaging: Bulk
• Coffee Bean State: Roasted coffee beans
• Sugar Content: Sugar-free
• Origin: Panama
• Roast Level: Medium roast

About the Typica Variety

Typica is a tall cultivar of Arabica, originating from the branch that ran from Yemen to Java, and it began spreading in Java in the early 18th century.

It is the oldest native variety from Ethiopia, and all Arabica varieties descend from Typica. Typica plants have bronze-colored young leaves and elliptical or slender-pointed beans. The flavor is elegant, but the plant is physically weak, disease-resistant, and yields low. Excellent estate coffees such as Jamaica Blue Mountain, Sumatra Mandheling, and Hawaii Kona all belong to the Typica variety.

The plant closely resembles what we now call Java: bronze-tipped young leaves, large fruit and seed, very low yields, and susceptibility to all the major pests and diseases.

Panama Boquete Elida Typica Natural

• Country: Panama
• Grade: SHB
• Region: Boquete
• Roast Level: Medium roast
• Processing Method: Natural
• Variety: Typica
• Flavor: Rich tropical fruits, strawberry aroma, black plum

Elida Estate

Baru is a young volcano standing over 3,400 meters tall, an active volcano ringed by seven different microclimate zones that nurture a rich, diverse ecosystem. Those varied microclimates cut both ways for coffee, but for Elida the flavor comes out more intense and aromatic than in most Panamanian coffees, with a black-berry aftertaste and a complex mouthfeel that make it hugely popular among connoisseurs.

High-altitude terrain has disadvantages too. Elida's average coffee-cultivation altitude exceeds 1,700 meters, and the combination of altitude and cool nights means a coffee tree takes five years from planting to harvest, which makes the wait extremely long. At harvest time, ripening often stretches beyond a month. If abnormal weather arrives before the cherries ripen — typhoons or heavy rain, for instance — the losses can be significant. Because the beans are not yet ripe, FrontStreet Coffee insists on quality over quantity and refuses to rush the harvest, which lowers yields considerably. The risk is far greater than on low-altitude estates.

Boquete Region

Panama coffee is famous for the Geisha from Hacienda La Esmeralda, and the region where this estate sits is well known too: Boquete in Chiriqui province. Boquete is a town in Chiriqui near the Panama-Costa Rica border, close to the famous Baru volcano. The scenery is beautiful, the soil rich and fertile, and the climate and soil are excellent for producing high-quality coffee.

Elida's Excellence

Since 2006, Elida's selected lots have consistently ranked among Panama's best winning batches, with prices climbing year after year. Among Central American estates, Elida should be considered the most "Kenyan black-berry-toned," praised for its black berries and persistent, complex fruit flavors. Judges are also drawn to Elida's unique "umami." That term comes from the Japanese word umami. Many experts now count umami as one of the five basic tastes (sweet, sour, bitter, salty, umami). Its effect is similar to monosodium glutamate — enhancing flavor, or making foods like dried shiitake, aged cheese, and kombu stock taste richer. Umami in coffee is tied to a good "aftertaste," such as a long, pleasant sensation after sipping, which belongs to the perception of umami.

Elida's processing equipment and steps are all executed meticulously. Generally, once coffee fruit has reached a certain stage of post-processing, if its moisture content stays above 20% for long periods, high-quality compounds are easily lost and off-flavors can develop. Elida's processing facility is also at high altitude, so it has dedicated equipment to control temperature and timing during drying. This has to be controlled perfectly — it is a crucial step affecting quality.

This lot uses natural processing with the classic Typica variety. Typica is the oldest native variety from Ethiopia, originating in southeastern Ethiopia and Sudan; all Arabica varieties descend from it. The flavor is elegant, but the plant is physically weak, disease-resistant, and low-yielding. Excellent estate coffees such as Jamaica Blue Mountain, Sumatra Mandheling, and Hawaii Kona all belong to Typica. Typica's young leaves are bronze-colored, hence the name red-topped coffee, and Typica belongs to the Arabica species.

Estate Environment

Over half of Elida Estate lies within Panama National Park's reserve area. It is a rare ultra-high-altitude estate in Central America. Depending on what the terrain allows, coffee is cultivated from 1,700 meters up to nearly 2,000 meters, and it is known for a main flavor profile that is "intense and umami-rich."

Elida Estate belongs to owner Wilford Lamastus. It cultivates three varieties — Typica, Geisha, and Catuai — with nursery areas raising seedlings of each. The journey to the estate is beautiful, and at 1,700 meters the air turns cold and crisp, like walking in high mountains enjoying forest bathing and very fresh air. At 2,000 meters the terrain is steep, and after crossing the ridge to the saddle there is surprisingly flat open ground with terrain that blocks the howling mountain winds. Wilford says this is the best place to grow Geisha.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Elida's umami-heavy, low-acid style often appeals to drinkers who also love the full-bodied side of coffee, which is where FrontStreet Coffee's Indonesian Mandheling comes in. Sourced from the Lintong area beside Lake Toba in Sumatra and processed wet-hulled — the parchment removed while the bean is still semi-dry, so it dries fully exposed to the air — it carries classic herbal and spice notes. Roasted medium-dark to bring out the classic profile, it is low in acidity and full-bodied, with caramel, dark chocolate, and toast aromas and a long, sweet finish.

FrontStreet's PWN Golden Mandheling is the top of that category. PWN buys only high-quality Mandheling green lots and Golden Mandheling is its flagship; strict screening covers density, screen size, shape, and color, with one machine pass plus hand sorting to remove defects. The result is uniform, large, translucent beans with less of the earthy, grassy edge. Freshly roasted, it delivers sandalwood, herbal and spice notes alongside roasted hazelnut, caramel, and dark chocolate, with a clean and full body.

To get the best out of a Mandheling, FrontStreet suggests a hand-pour at 87-88°C with 15 g of coffee at a 1:15 ratio and a coarse-sugar grind, poured in three stages: a 30 ml bloom to wet all the grounds and let them degas, then 100 ml to lift the bed and draw out the golden foam, then a gentle 95 ml centered pour to raise sweetness — bringing out a thick body with caramel sweetness and chocolate and nut flavors.