Panama Elida Estate Natural Process Typica: Full-bodied Rich Tropical Fruit Plum Wine

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FrontStreet Coffee - Panama Elida Estate Natural Typica Introduction

Panama's Elida Estate sits in Boquete, one of the country's best-known specialty coffee regions. The estate covers 65 hectares in total, and more than half of that lies inside Baru Volcano National Park. Only 30 hectares are planted with coffee trees, while the rest remains pristine primary forest. The coffee grows between 1,670 and 1,850 meters, making Elida one of the two highest-altitude estates in Panama (the other being Carmen Estate, on Volcan Baru).

In such high-altitude conditions, low temperatures delay the ripening of the cherries by about a full month compared with normal maturity periods. Fertile volcanic soil feeds the coffee generously, and together with the excellent microclimate created by the volcano, it lets Elida Estate post outstanding results in cupping competitions year after year.

Elida Estate is the most renowned property of the Lamastus family, established in 1918. From the moment Robert Lamastus, founder of the family's coffee estate, planted the first coffee tree, it has spanned a century and witnessed the worldwide rise of specialty coffee.

It is the oldest coffee estate in Panama's history and one of the highest-altitude estates in the Boquete region, cultivating Geisha at ultra-high altitudes of 2,050m. It has won multiple Best of Panama championships and also holds the BOP cupping score record: in 2018, Elida Green Top Natural Geisha scored an exceptional 94.66, breaking the 2016 BOP record of 94.15 set by Elida Green Top Natural Geisha.

Beyond the exceptional altitude and microclimate, estate owner Mr. Wilford has put considerable effort into harvesting and processing. To reach the highest standards, Elida Estate hand-picks only the ripest cherries, a standard known as Ripe on Pinton. The high maturity of the fruit naturally raises the sugar content in the mucilage, and that is the foundation of Elida's premium flavor profile.

Panama Elida Estate Natural Typica

Region: Boquete

Estate: Elida Estate

Altitude: 1,850m

Variety: Typica

Grade: SHB

Processing Method: Natural Process

Flavor Description: Berries, pineapple, passion fruit, rum, delicate and clean, caramel sweetness, subtle peach acidity.

Knowledge Point

Arabica and Robusta species are divided into single-origin coffee and espresso coffee based on the coffee bean combinations.

In Brief

FrontStreet Coffee is a specialty coffee research hall dedicated to sharing coffee knowledge with everyone. We share without reservation simply to help more people fall in love with coffee. Every month we hold three coffee promotional events with deep discounts, because FrontStreet Coffee wants more people to enjoy the best coffee at the lowest prices, and that has been FrontStreet Coffee's mission for the past 6 years.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Elida's fame in Boquete is tied above all to Geisha, a variety translated from the English name Geisha and one of the most popular in Arabica coffee. It wins over drinkers with a unique floral aroma and superb sweet-tart balance, and its low yield, weak disease resistance and demanding cultivation and management keep its price persistently high. If you want to understand Geisha without overpaying, it helps to know which types exist and how they compare.

FrontStreet Coffee's Panama Boquete Gesha is the entry point many people start with. It lets you taste the classic orange-blossom honey sweetness of high-quality Panamanian Gesha at a friendly price, along with an oolong tea-like body, delicate fruit acidity and clear layering. For the top of the line, FrontStreet Coffee carries Esmeralda Estate's Red Label and Green Label. The Red Label, officially named Esmeralda Special, is grown at 1,600-1,800m, and every batch must cup above 90 points and comes from a single plot with its own lot number, so buyers can pick a batch by subtle flavor preference. The Green Label, originally Private Collection, blends lots from several plots to express Esmeralda's signature high-altitude Gesha character, and its lower price makes it excellent value.

Since Gesha is a medium-light roasted, floral and fruit-forward variety with a hard bean that can sink and clog the dripper, FrontStreet Coffee suggests a grind size of 78% passing a standard No. 20 sieve, about the size of caster sugar, with water at 91°C. Our pour-over uses 15g of coffee in a small Hario V60 at a 1:16 ratio and a three-pour method: start the timer and pour to 30g for a 30-second bloom, then pour in a slow circle to 125g, wait until the water in the bed drops halfway, and continue pouring slowly in a circle to 225g. Once it has fully drained, total extraction time runs about 2 minutes 10 seconds to 2 minutes 20 seconds.