Panama's Famous Coffee Estates - Don Pachi Estate: Where Livestock Grazing and Coffee Growing Meet

FrontStreet Coffee - Introduction to Panama El Burro Estate

The story of El Burro Estate has to begin with Hacienda La Esmeralda.

La Esmeralda needs little introduction: a world-class estate with a storied history and the record for the highest cupping score at Best of Panama (BOP). In 2016, La Esmeralda's Green Tip Geisha set the record with an exceptional 94.15 in the BOP's Washed category. The owners, the Lamastus family, also run the equally famous El Burro Estate and the rising-star Luito Estate — so El Burro and La Esmeralda share the same parentage.

Which raises the question: why does one estate carry a lovely name like "La Esmeralda" while the other is named after livestock? El Burro has nearly 100 years of history, and it was named for donkeys ("El Burro") because the land was originally used for raising livestock.

Can coffee grow well on former pasture?

Not only does it grow well — the quality is exceptional. El Burro Estate sits in the Boquete region of Panama's Chiriqui province, covering roughly 50 hectares: 20 hectares planted with Geisha and Catuai, 10 hectares held as a planting reserve, and the remainder protected as part of the Baru Volcano National Forest Park. At about 1,700-1,800 meters, the terrain is steep, dotted with native shade trees, and often shrouded in cloud — conditions that stretch the coffee's growing cycle. The volcanic soil is high in potassium and phosphorus and rich in organic matter.

At the 2016 Japan Barista Championship, a barista from Maruyama Coffee took first place using washed Geisha from El Burro Estate.

El Burro Estate Was Nearly Sold

El Burro was established by Amado Boutet, grandfather of the current family heir, Wilford Lamastus. Amado's father, Aristides Boutet, was a French immigrant who came to Panama in the early 19th century. When global coffee prices collapsed, the family had no choice but to sell off large portions of its estates.

Wilford and his brother Patrick Lamastus couldn't bear to watch the family's coffee land go, so they bought El Burro and kept it running. To sustain the estate and support their families, both brothers took on other jobs for extra income. Today, that persistence has made El Burro a renowned estate with outstanding results in the Best of Panama competition.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Geisha — from the English "Geisha" — is among the most sought-after varieties in Arabica coffee. Its singular floral character and brilliant sweet-and-sour structure have won over countless drinkers, but low yields, weak disease resistance, and demanding cultivation keep prices climbing. If you want to taste Geisha without breaking the bank, it helps to know the tiers. The FrontStreet Esmeralda Red Label (officially "Esmeralda Special") grows at 1600-1800 meters, every batch must cup above 90 points, and each batch comes from a single small plot — FrontStreet's comes from the Jaramillo block — so buyers can choose lots by subtle flavor differences. The Green Label ("Private Collection") blends lots from multiple high-altitude plots to express the estate's signature Geisha profile at a more accessible price, making it excellent value.

Newcomers should start with the entry-level FrontStreet Boquete Geisha: an affordable way to taste classic Panamanian orange-blossom honey sweetness, oolong-tea texture, and delicate fruit acidity with clear layering. Beyond Panama, Ethiopia — Geisha's birthplace — offers its own: the FrontStreet Geisha Village Gold Label (Geisha 1931, 10% of the estate's output, refined natural process, complex and rich) and Red Label (Gori Gesha, 15% of output, scoring 88+ on the SCA 100-point scale, with full lot traceability), plus the entry-level FrontStreet Granana Estate Gesha from Yirgacheffe, roasted medium-light to keep its white florals while highlighting orange, guava, and citrus. For brewing, FrontStreet recommends a medium-light roast, a medium-coarse grind (78% pass on a #20 sieve, about fine-sugar size), 91°C water, 15g of coffee on a Hario V60 at 1:16, with three pours: 30g bloom for 30 seconds, then to 125g, then to 225g, for a total extraction of roughly 2:10-2:20.