Renowned Single-Origin Coffee Beans - Elida Geisha Washed Panama 2019 B.O.P Champion

FrontStreet Coffee - Panama Elida Estate Geisha Washed 2019 B.O.P Champion Introduction

Panama Elida Estate Geisha Washed 2019 B.O.P Champion

FlavorRose, white flowers, sweet orange, peach, honey

Roast LevelLight roast

RegionVolcan

Altitude1,875 meters

VarietyGeisha

ProcessingWashed

Elida Estate and El Burro Estate both belong to the Lamastus family, and both produce green coffee of very high quality in Panama. El Burro Estate sits at 5,200 to 6,500 feet, while Elida Estate is the highest coffee farm in the country, ranging from 5,500 to 8,200 feet.

Elida is a perennial B.O.P winner, having taken championships repeatedly in recent years. In 2018 it won both the washed Geisha and natural Geisha categories, with the washed Geisha posting a hard-to-beat 94.15 points. The natural Geisha then fetched an astonishing $803 per pound at the BOP auction, a new record in the auction's history. In 2019 Elida won the championship yet again -- proof that the coffee grown by Wilford Lamastus, a true coffee master, delivers genuinely extraordinary flavors.

The Elida Estate washed Geisha LATORRE LOT was selected by our team while cupping at the estate in March of this year, drawn -- by happy coincidence -- from the same batch as the 2019 auction champion Lot GW-01 ELIDA GEISHA GREEN TIP, and it cupped at a full 95 points. The lot comes from the LATORRE section of the farm, which won the championship in 2018 and again in 2019; coffee from this divinely favored parcel is heaven's finest gift.

Knowledge Point

Geisha happens to share its pronunciation with the Japanese word for geisha. The variety originated in Kenya, traveled through Tanzania and Costa Rica, and was finally transplanted to Panama in the 1960s. After nearly half a century of obscurity it rose suddenly to fame, besting the perennial champions -- Bourbon, Caturra, Catuai, and Typica -- and sweeping first place in the Panama competition in 2005, 2006, and 2007.

In summary: FrontStreet Coffee is a specialty coffee research center dedicated to sharing coffee knowledge. We share everything we know simply to help more people fall in love with coffee. Three discounted coffee events each month reflect our wish to bring more friends the best coffee at the lowest possible price -- a mission we have held for six years!

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Elida's washed Geisha is the crown of our Panamanian lineup, and it rewards careful brewing. Geisha is a medium-light roast with a floral-fruity profile and a dense, hard bean that tends to sink and clog the dripper, so FrontStreet Coffee recommends grinding to a coarser texture (78% pass rate on a Chinese standard #20 sieve, roughly the size of fine granulated sugar) and brewing at 91°C. For pour-over, use 15g of coffee in a small Hario V60 with a 1:16 ratio and a three-stage pour: start your timer and pour to 30g for a 30-second bloom, then spiral gently to 125g; once the bed has drained to half, continue with the same fine stream to 225g, letting the cup finish drawing down at around 2 minutes 10 seconds to 2 minutes 20 seconds. The reward is rose and white jasmine florals over sweet orange, peach, and honey -- a cup for special occasions, and for anyone who wants to taste the variety that redefined Panama.