Panama Ileita Coffee Region Introduction How to Brew Panama Coffee

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Introduction to Panamanian Coffee

Coffee was introduced to Panama in 1780, when Europeans brought the first batch of Typica varieties. Since then, this mysterious and fascinating beverage has conquered the senses of Panamanians, and locals began widespread cultivation. Panamanian coffee is very smooth, with plump beans that are lightweight, and has perfect acidity balance. Its high-quality coffee beans feature pure flavors and unique characteristics. Due to its widespread popularity, most of Panama's premium coffee beans are exported to France and Finland.

Main Coffee Growing Regions in Panama

Boquete Region: This area produces coffee in large quantities with excellent quality, making it the region with the highest production and best quality coffee in Panama.

Volcán Region: The coffee produced here is characterized by mild and balanced flavors, gradually gaining attention from international experts and coffee enthusiasts. It is believed that it will soon rival the Boquete region.

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

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

Coffee Characteristics and Varieties

This batch of coffee offers the most pure original flavors. Because the Ileta Estate SHB washed coffee is harvested from high-altitude Catuai coffee beans, it carries strong fruity and floral aromas. Flavor characteristics: creamy bread, apricot kernel sweetness, cane sugar sweetness, rounded acidity, complex aroma, moderate sweet and sour balance, and pleasant mouthfeel.

Caturra is a natural variant of the Arabica Bourbon variety, discovered in Brazil in 1937. Its plant is shorter and smaller than Bourbon. 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 there, so it was not cultivated on a large scale in Brazil. Instead, it became widely popular in Central and South America, with countries like Colombia, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua growing 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 lower yields. When Caturra is lightly roasted, the acidic aroma is prominent and the overall brightness is clear. 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 grows very small quantities of yellow Caturra.

Coffee Grading Systems

Currently, the grading systems for coffee bean production areas worldwide are not unified. Each coffee-producing country has its own grading system and grading names, so you might see the following text on coffee labels: "SHB," "AA+," "Supremo," "Extra-Fancy," "Peaberry/Small beans," 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 indication, usually the better the coffee quality. However, general coffee does not indicate this.

Product Information

Manufacturer: FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee)
Address: No. 10, Bao'an Qian Street, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou
Manufacturer Contact: 020-38364473
Ingredients: In-house roasted
Shelf Life: 30 days
Net Content: 227g
Packaging: Bulk
Flavor: Neutral
Coffee Bean State: Roasted beans
Contains Sugar: Sugar-free
Origin: Panama
Coffee Type: Other

Coffee Details

Panama MC Santa Clara Eleta SHB Washed

Country: Panama
Grade: SHB
Region: Santa Clara
Altitude: Average 1600 meters
Processing Method: Washed

Brewing Instructions

Hand-poured Panama Ileta. 15g of powder, medium grind (small Fuji ghost tooth grinder #4), V60 dripper, water temperature 88-89°C. First pour 30g of water for a 27-second bloom, then pour to 105g and stop. Wait until the water level drops to half, then slowly pour until reaching 225g. Avoid the tail section. Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, extraction time 2:00.

Ileta Estate

Ileta 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, a major primary forest reserve that belongs to the Central American ecological habitat. Ileta Estate began acquiring land in the 1970s, covering approximately 130 hectares. Initially, it operated vegetable cultivation and livestock farming. Coffee planting began in 1995, named Café de Eleta S.A., and continued to expand land area until today, reaching 420 hectares. It is one of Panama's large-scale coffee planting estates and also one of the best-known Panama coffees. Due to abundant water resources, it has a private 530KW hydropower plant. Besides being self-sufficient in electricity, excess power is sold to Distribución de Electricidad Chiriquí S.A. for grid connection.

Variety: Caturra
Estate: Ileta Estate
Flavor: Creamy bread, apricot kernel sweetness, rounded acidity

Panamanian Coffee's Rise to Prominence

Panamanian coffee has been the most popular country in Central America for the past 5-6 years, mainly because the Geisha variety grown at Hacienda La Esmeralda, operated by the Peterson family, has driven coffee enthusiasts wild. This has led to Geisha being acclaimed as the world's top coffee bean. For this reason, the Panama Cup of Excellence competition auction is independent from the Central and South American Cupping Competition and was the earliest auction country, held annually in mid-May. Panamanian coffee is impressive not only in the Geisha variety but also continues to innovate in green bean processing methods. Not only are there traditional washed processing methods, but also honey processing methods popular in neighboring Costa Rica. Additionally, naturally processed beans, which are gradually taking shape in Central America, are also produced in small quantities in Panama, attracting the attention of coffee professionals worldwide.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473