The History, Culture, Stories, and Allusions of Panama Finca Lerida Estate Premium Single-Origin Beans

The History, Culture, and Stories of Panama Illeta Estate's Premium Single-Origin Coffee Beans

RENACIMIENTO

Renacimiento is a producing area within Chiriquí province, bordering Costa Rica. The area itself is small, which makes it one of Panama's minor specialty coffee origins.

Altitude: 1100-1500m

Harvest: December - March

Varieties: Typica, Caturra, Catuai, Bourbon, Geisha, San Ramon

Detailed Introduction:

Product Name: Panama Santa Clara Eleta SHB Washed

Region: Santa Clara Region

Estate: Finca Eleta (Eleta Estate)

Variety: Caturra

Altitude: Average 1600 meters

Grade: SHB

Processing Method: Washed

Harvest Period: N/A

Certification: N/A

Flavor Profile: Creamy bread, apricot kernel sweetness, cane sugar sweetness, rounded acidity, complex aroma, balanced sweet and sour, pleasant mouthfeel.

Introduction

Coffee reached Panama in 1780, when Europeans brought the first Typica trees. From there this mysterious, exotic drink won over the senses of Panamanians, and locals began cultivating it widely. Panama coffee is very smooth, with full-bodied beans of light weight and perfectly balanced acidity. Its premium beans show pure, highly distinctive flavors, and a medium roast is recommended. Many buyers like to use Panama beans in blends, and almost all of the country's premium coffee is shipped to France and Finland.

Preferences vary from person to person. Consider buying small amounts and trying different roast levels:

• Remove beans during early first crack
• Remove beans at the end of first crack
• Remove beans between the end of first crack and the beginning of second crack
• Remove beans when second crack begins
• Remove beans 10-15 seconds into second crack
• Remove beans during dense second crack

The hope is that every roasting enthusiast finds the profile they like best.

Panama's Main Coffee Producing Regions:

1. Boquete Region: Produces coffee in large quantities and at excellent quality, making it Panama's highest-yielding and best-quality region.
2. Volcan Region: Coffee here is mild and balanced, and has gradually drawn attention from international experts and drinkers. It is expected to rival Boquete before long.
3. Santa Clara Region: Fertile coffee gardens are irrigated by clear river water from the Chorerra Falls, and proximity to the Panama Canal lets fresh, pure Panama coffee ship worldwide with ease.
4. Piedra de Candela Region: Considered to have the greatest potential for developing high-quality specialty coffee.

Panama has been Central America's hottest country for the past 5-6 years, largely because the Geisha variety grown by the Peterson family at Hacienda La Esmeralda drove coffee lovers wild. Geisha has been hailed as the world's top coffee bean. For that reason the Panama Cup of Excellence auction stands apart from the Central and South American cupping competitions and is one of the earliest auction countries, held each year in mid-May. Panama impresses not only with Geisha but with its constantly evolving green bean processing — traditional washed, the honey process that neighbors enjoy in Costa Rica, and the small-scale natural production gradually taking shape across Central America — all of which draws attention from coffee professionals worldwide.

Illeta Estate (Eleta Estate)

Café de Eleta (also known as Eleta Estate) occupies a small pocket of the Santa Clara region, just one kilometer from the Costa Rican border, near La Amistad International Park, a major primary forest reserve within the Central American ecological habitat. The estate began acquiring land in the 1970s, eventually around 130 hectares. It started out in vegetable cultivation and livestock, and coffee was first planted in 1995 under the name Café de Eleta S.A. The land kept expanding until it reached 420 hectares, making it one of Panama's large-scale coffee plantations and one of the country's best-known coffees. Thanks to abundant water, it runs a private 530KW hydropower plant that not only covers its own electricity needs but sells surplus power to Distribución de Electricidad Chiriquí S.A. for grid connection.

This lot shows the purest, most original flavors. Because Illeta Estate's SHB washed coffee is harvested from high-altitude Caturra, it carries intense fruity and floral notes. Flavor characteristics: creamy bread, apricot kernel sweetness, cane sugar sweetness, rounded acidity, complex aroma, balanced sweet and sour, pleasant mouthfeel.

Variety: Caturra

Estate: Illeta Estate

Flavor: Creamy bread, apricot kernel sweetness, rounded acidity

Panama has been Central America's hottest country for the past 5-6 years, largely because the Geisha grown by the Peterson family at Hacienda La Esmeralda drove coffee lovers wild. Geisha has been hailed as the world's top coffee bean, which is why the Panama Cup of Excellence auction stands apart from the Central and South American cupping competitions and is one of the earliest auction countries, held annually in mid-May. Panama impresses not only with Geisha but with its continuously updated green bean processing — traditional washed, the honey process popular in neighboring Costa Rica, and the small-scale natural production gradually forming in Central America — attracting attention from coffee professionals everywhere.

Coffee reached Panama in 1780, when Europeans brought the first Typica trees. From there this mysterious, exotic drink won over the senses of Panamanians, and locals began cultivating it widely. Panama coffee is very smooth, with full-bodied beans of light weight and perfectly balanced acidity, and its premium beans show pure, highly distinctive flavors. Because of their popularity, most of Panama's premium coffee is shipped to France and Finland.

Panama's Main Coffee Producing Regions:

1. Boquete Region: Produces coffee in large quantities and at excellent quality, making it Panama's highest-yielding and best-quality region.
2. Volcan Region: Coffee here is mild and balanced, and has gradually drawn attention from international experts and drinkers. It is expected to rival Boquete before long.
3. Santa Clara Region: Fertile coffee gardens are irrigated by clear river water from the Chorerra Falls, and proximity to the Panama Canal lets fresh, pure Panama coffee ship worldwide with ease.
4. Piedra de Candela Region: Considered to have the greatest potential for developing high-quality specialty coffee.

This lot shows the purest, most original flavors. Because Illeta Estate's SHB washed coffee is harvested from high-altitude Caturra, it carries intense fruity and floral notes. Flavor characteristics: creamy bread, apricot kernel sweetness, cane sugar sweetness, rounded acidity, complex aroma, balanced sweet and sour, pleasant mouthfeel.

Caturra Variety

Caturra is a natural mutation of the Bourbon Arabica variety, discovered in Brazil in 1937. The plant is shorter and more compact than Bourbon. Because it carries Bourbon's lineage, its disease resistance is relatively weak, though its yields are higher than Bourbon's. Even though it was discovered in Brazil, Caturra is not well suited to conditions there, so it was never planted on a large scale in the country; instead it became widely popular across Central and South America, with large-scale cultivation in Colombia, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua.

Botany aside, most people care more about Caturra's flavor. The higher the altitude it is grown at, the better the quality — and, correspondingly, the lower the yield. Lightly roasted, Caturra shows distinct acidic aromas and overall brightness. With proper processing its sweetness can perform very well, but its body is lower than Bourbon's, and the cleanliness of the mouthfeel tends to fall short.

Caturra usually produces red cherries, but in rare pockets you can find yellow Caturra, such as the very small amount grown in Hawaii.

Coffee Bean Classification Systems

Coffee bean classification systems are not standardized worldwide. Each producing country has its own system and its own grade names, which is why you may see labels such as "SHB," "AA+," "Supremo," "Extra-Fancy," or "Peaberry/Small Bean." These are classification names. Commercially sold roasted beans sometimes indicate the classification of a single origin. The more detail a label carries, the better the quality usually is; ordinary coffee, however, typically shows none of this information.

Manufacturer: FrontStreet Coffee

Ingredients: In-house roasted

Shelf Life: 30 days

Net Weight: 227g

Packaging: Bulk

Taste: Neutral

Coffee Bean State: Roasted beans

Sugar Content: Sugar-free

Origin: Panama

Coffee Type: Other

Panama MC Santa Clara Eleta SHB Washed

Country: Panama

Grade: SHB

Region: Santa Clara

Altitude: Average 1600 meters

Processing Method: Washed

Pour-over Brewing

Panama Illeta pour-over: 15g coffee, medium grind (Fuji Royal ghost-tooth grinder #4), V60 dripper, water at 88-89°C. First pour 30g of water, bloom for 27 seconds, pour to 105g and stop, wait until the water level drops halfway, then pour slowly until reaching 225g. Avoid the tail end. Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, extraction time 2:00.

Café de Eleta (Illeta Estate) occupies a small pocket of the Santa Clara region, just one kilometer from the Costa Rican border, near La Amistad International Park, a major primary forest reserve within the Central American ecological habitat. The estate began acquiring land in the 1970s, eventually around 130 hectares. It started out in vegetable cultivation and livestock, and coffee was first planted in 1995 under the name Café de Eleta S.A. The land kept expanding until it reached 420 hectares, making it one of Panama's large-scale coffee plantations and one of the country's best-known coffees. Thanks to abundant water, it runs a private 530KW hydropower plant that not only covers its own electricity needs but sells surplus power to Distribución de Electricidad Chiriquí S.A. for grid connection.

Product Name: Panama Santa Clara Eleta SHB Washed

Region: Santa Clara Region

Estate: Finca Eleta (Eleta Estate)

Variety: Caturra

Altitude: Average 1600 meters

Grade: SHB

Processing Method: Washed

Harvest Period: N/A

Certification: N/A

Flavor Profile: Creamy bread, apricot kernel sweetness, cane sugar sweetness, rounded acidity, complex aroma, balanced sweet and sour, pleasant mouthfeel.

Café de Eleta (Illeta Estate, also known as Eleta Estate) occupies a small pocket of the Santa Clara region, just one kilometer from the Costa Rican border, near La Amistad International Park, a major primary forest reserve within the Central American ecological habitat. The estate began acquiring land in the 1970s, eventually around 130 hectares. It started out in vegetable cultivation and livestock, and coffee was first planted in 1995 under the name Café de Eleta S.A. The land kept expanding until it reached 420 hectares, making it one of Panama's large-scale coffee plantations and one of the country's best-known coffees. Thanks to abundant water, it runs a private 530KW hydropower plant that not only covers its own electricity needs but sells surplus power to Distribución de Electricidad Chiriquí S.A. for grid connection.

Panama

Population: 3406000

Panama defines its coffee regions by how the coffee is produced rather than by strict geography. In earlier days, when coffee was grown more widely and the areas below were smaller and clustered more tightly, the beans they produced could be combined as a single unit.

BOQUETE

Boquete is Panama's most famous producing area. Its mountainous terrain creates many microclimates. Relatively cool weather and frequent fog slow the ripening of the cherries, which some compare to high-altitude conditions.

Altitude: 400-1900m

Harvest: December - March

Varieties: Typica, Caturra, Catuai, Bourbon, Geisha, San Ramon

VOLCAN-CANDELA

The Volcan-Candela region produces most of Panama's food along with some remarkable coffee. It takes its name from Baru Volcano and the town of Piedra Candela, and it borders Costa Rica.

Altitude: 1200-1600m

Harvest: December - March

Varieties: Typica, Caturra, Catuai, Bourbon, Geisha, San Ramon

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Because this article is really a story about Panama, it is worth pointing out that the country's most celebrated cup is also on FrontStreet Coffee's shelf. FrontStreet Coffee's Boquete Geisha is the estate-level introduction to the variety: grown at 1600 meters on the fertile volcanic ash soil of the Boquete mountains, where mist and cloud hang over the ridges by day and the nights run cool, it draws out the jasmine florals, green tea, honey, citrus, and orange that define a classic Panama Geisha. It is a smart first stop for anyone who wants to taste what all the fuss is about.

For the higher tiers, FrontStreet Coffee carries the Hacienda La Esmeralda line. The Red Label, officially Esmeralda Special, is picked from single plots between 1600-1800 meters, cupped above 90 points, and sold in individually numbered lots so buyers can chase the micro-flavor they prefer. The Green Label, or Private Collection, blends several plots to express the estate's signature high-altitude Geisha character at a friendlier price, which makes it an outstanding value.

Geisha is a medium-light, floral-fruity roast and its dense beans can sink and clog the dripper, so FrontStreet Coffee recommends grinding to about 78% pass-through on a China-standard #20 sieve, roughly fine-sugar size, and brewing at 91°C. Use 15g of coffee in a small Hario V60 at a 1:16 ratio with a three-stage pour: 30g for a 30-second bloom, then a thin circling stream to 125g, wait for the bed to drop halfway, then continue to 225g, finishing with a total brew time of roughly 2:10-2:20.