Pour Over Coffee Tutorial: Panama Santa Teresa Estate Natural Process Caturra _ How Much Water for 15g of Pour Over Coffee

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Today I'm sharing a Panama coffee bean I came across in a coffee journal, issue number 12.3. It is a new addition to my collection: the Santa Teresa Estate Panama Natural.

This Panama bean is characterized by its gentle, delicate nature. It is fine and subtle, embracing your small flaws while giving you a full sense of security.

It offers abundant sweetness, with fruit acidity and bitterness all woven into that sweetness until they are hard to separate. The mouthfeel is clean, the aftertaste elegant, and the overall cup harmonious. While it stays balanced, it still keeps a character of its own. It is also highly forgiving, making it difficult to brew badly. You won't tire of drinking it again and again, which makes it a fine daily staple.

Coffee Origin Information

Country: Panama

Region: Chiriquí Province, Santa Clara District

Estate: Santa Teresa

Varieties: Caturra, Catuai

Altitude: >1600m

Processing: Natural

Harvest: December - April

Natural processing is a very historical and mature method. The procedures used by most producers are similar, with the main workflow being: sorting out impurities and defects, drying and dehydrating on raised beds or the ground, using a huller to remove fruit skin and pulp, then sorting and bagging. I won't repeat the process here; you can review the explanation of Yirgacheffe red cherry natural processing in our bean list guide for December.

Panama sits in Central America, sandwiched between Costa Rica and Colombia. It is a producing region I have a particular fondness for. Most estates' natural and honey-processed beans have a full mouthfeel and distinct flavor characteristics. I especially love that fruit fermentation flavor, though many friends think it tastes like Cantonese roast meat. That is purely a matter of personal preference.

Chiriquí is a province in western Panama, belonging to a highland area. The region contains a Chiriquí volcano, which makes it exceptionally rich in natural resources. There is a famous producing region called Boquete, with a volcanic climate and a reputation for aged fried dough twists. Sorry, I mean good coffee. We are not talking about it today. Instead, let's talk about a district on the west side of the volcano, with a very beautiful name: Santa Clara.

I think my interest in geography only started developing in middle age.

Santa Teresa Estate is located in this region, with the geographical advantages of valleys and ridges and a high altitude, and it also provides generous welfare benefits for the coffee farmers within the estate. They can live and work in peace, which has helped the estate's father-and-daughter owners win more competition awards.

In Panama, most estates have strict management and excellent employee benefits, including free accommodation, meals and schools, which allows coffee farmers to focus more on their work. Combined with uniquely advantageous locations, producing good coffee comes naturally. Even more impressive is how they combine coffee estates with tourism, and with considerable success.

Doesn't this feel like what life should be like?

The natural-processed Caturra from Santa Teresa Estate has a rich mouthfeel, moderate acidity, obvious sweetness and high saturation, with a faint nutty flavor and waves of fermented aroma. It belongs to the rich fruit profile, making it an excellent choice for anyone who prefers something not too acidic and not too bitter.

Brewing Guide

How to brew Panama Santa Teresa Estate Natural Caturra well

FrontStreet Coffee pour-over reference: Weigh 15g of Santa Teresa Estate Natural Caturra coffee powder and pour it into a grinder for a medium grind. The ground particles should be slightly coarser than table salt. We use a BG grinder setting of 4B, a water temperature of 91°C, and extract with a wave-style filter.

The hot water in the pour-over kettle should be poured in circles clockwise around the center of the filter as the pivot. Start timing when brewing begins. Within 15 seconds, brew the coffee to 30g, then stop pouring. When the time reaches 1 minute, pour the second round. For the second pour, as before, draw circles clockwise around the filter's center. The water stream should not hit where the coffee powder meets the filter paper, to avoid channeling.

When pouring the water out to the outermost circle of coffee powder, leave one circle, then brew circle by circle toward the center. At 2 minutes and 20 seconds, the coffee should be brewed to 220g, and the coffee is complete.

Cold Brew Method

FrontStreet Coffee cold brew reference for Santa Teresa Estate Natural Caturra:

Panama Santa Teresa Estate Natural Caturra, light-medium roast, BG grinder setting 4B, grind level 3, 20g of beans, 83°C water temperature, a 3-minute pre-infusion, a Chemex pot, then cold brew with ice water, for a total water volume of 200ml.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation: Ethiopian Contrasts for Your Pour Over

If you enjoy the gentle, sweet, high-fault-tolerance character of this Santa Teresa natural, FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe lineup will feel familiar. The washed Yirgacheffe, known for white jasmine, bright citrus and lemon acidity and a tea-like body, is the classic entry to the region, while the Sun-Dried Red Cherry uses fully ripe red fruit dried on raised beds for citrus acidity, berry-juice texture, honey sweetness and a creamy finish. Brew either on a V60 at 90-91°C with 15g of coffee and a 1:15 ratio, and the three-stage pour will show you exactly what each cup is made of.