Panama Elida Estate

The Legacy of Elida Estate: Panama's Coffee Crown Jewel

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In 1918, Robert Lamastus, born in Kentucky, USA, established Elida Estate near the Baru Volcano in Boquete, Panama. The estate's name is something frequently emphasized when introducing Elida Estate, as Mr. Robert named it after his wife's name.

After establishing the estate, Mr. Robert focused on the production and cultivation of high-quality coffee. His passion for coffee seemed to be imprinted in his bloodline, continuing through generations. Today, Elida Estate has been passed to the fourth generation of the Lamastus family, with each generation expressing their passion and dedication to coffee in different ways. In recent years, the Lamastus family acquired a brand new high-altitude estate—Trompo Estate, marking it as the fifth estate under their family's ownership.

Although the Lamastus family owns five estates in Panama, currently only three are producing coffee. Each of these three estates is an extremely renowned Panamanian coffee estate! Besides our protagonist Elida Estate from this article, the others include: Don Pepe Estate and Luito Estate. Because the three estates are located in vastly different regions, the terroir environment for coffee cultivation varies significantly. It is precisely these differences that allow the coffee produced by each estate to possess distinctive characteristics.

Elida Estate: Natural Wonders and Coffee Excellence

Returning to Elida Estate itself, it is the largest and highest-altitude farm among the three estates, covering an impressive area of 65 hectares! Although its total area is vast, the usable area for coffee cultivation is much smaller! This is because more than half of Elida Estate falls within the Baru Volcano National Park, where all trees are strictly protected from cutting, representing a nationally preserved natural environment.

As a result, only 30 hectares of the 65 hectares are available for coffee cultivation. Despite this, the excellent growing environment (microclimate, volcanic soil, pristine nature) and high altitude have laid a solid foundation for the delicious flavor of Elida coffee. Of course, this is inseparable from the Lamastus family's strict and meticulous care in every aspect of coffee harvesting and processing. It is precisely because of this that the coffee produced by Elida Estate can leave people with an unforgettable and endless aftertaste.

Varieties and Cultivation Techniques

Over the years, Elida Estate has primarily cultivated three varieties: the traditional Typica, the modern Catuai, and the current king of coffee—Geisha. Elida Estate was also one of the members amazed by the stunning performance of Geisha when Hacienda La Esmeralda made waves at BOP in 2004. Consequently, third-generation estate owner Wilford Lamastus, like other estate owners, embarked on the journey of Geisha cultivation. In the following year of 2005, both Elida Estate and Don Pepe Estate began cultivating Geisha.

It's worth noting that Elida Estate is very deliberate about the distribution of different varieties. Catuai is planted in areas below 1,650 meters, while Geisha is cultivated at higher elevations. When planted at higher altitudes, temperatures become increasingly challenging. Although this extends the growth cycle of Geisha, the beans can accumulate more flavorful substances as a result.

Because the estate is situated on steep slopes with varying elevations and extensive area, Elida Estate has also divided its land into seven lots. From bottom to top, they are: Plano Lot, Falda Lot, Aguacate, Aguacatillo, Vuelta (the lot producing this year's winning Geisha), Loma Centro, and Torre Lot (the most award-winning lot). Due to differences in altitude and climate between lots, coffees from different lots exhibit distinct characteristics.

Quality Pursuit and Processing Innovation

Because third-generation estate owner Wilford Lamastus pursues even higher quality in coffee, he spares no expense in investing significant manpower and time to create perfect quality coffee.

When coffee cherries ripen to a wine-red color, workers mobilize quickly for harvesting, then immediately transport the coffee beans to the processing plant. Since the processing plant is located at the bottom of the estate, it takes less than half a day from fruit picking to processing. This approach prevents coffee cherries from undergoing premature fermentation in bags due to extended transportation times, simply reducing the unstable factors that could affect quality.

When it comes to Elida Estate's coffee processing methods, besides traditional natural, washed, and honey processing, they also explore anaerobic processing methods. As third-generation estate owner Mr. Wilford Lamastus mentioned in an interview, as long as the processing doesn't mask the inherent coffee flavors of Geisha, it's worth trying. That's why we often see the active presence of anaerobic-processed Elida coffee in various coffee competitions.

That said, although Elida Estate uses conventional processing methods for coffee, they have made certain adjustments in the processing steps. For example, natural processing!

Traditional natural processing involves sun-drying coffee cherries to a specified moisture content range before hulling. Elida Estate, however, also stacks the coffee cherries to a certain thickness before beginning the natural processing process! The advantage of this approach is that it extends the drying time of the coffee cherries, allowing the beans themselves to undergo more fermentation, thereby transforming into more abundant flavor compounds.

FrontStreet Coffee's Elida Natural Geisha Experience

Because FrontStreet Coffee wanted to taste the deliciousness from this championship estate, they acquired a batch of FrontStreet Coffee's Elida Estate Natural Geisha! This FrontStreet Coffee Natural Geisha comes from the Falda lot of Elida Estate at 1,750 meters altitude. Since the English pronunciation of "Falda" sounds very similar to the Chinese word for "prosperous" (发达), the Falda lot has earned the nickname "prosperous lot."

This FrontStreet Coffee Elida Natural Geisha has medium bean size and density, so it absorbs more heat during the roasting process, and the Maillard reaction proceeds relatively quickly. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee roasts it at a slower pace to allow this FrontStreet Coffee Natural Geisha to perfectly develop its rich floral and fruity notes.

Coffee Details and Cupping Notes

FrontStreet Coffee: Panama · Elida Estate Geisha
Country: Panama
Region: Boquete
Altitude: 1,750 meters
Variety: Geisha
Processing: Natural
Grade: SHB

Flavor Notes: Pomegranate, honey peach, white floral, grape, black tea

After FrontStreet Coffee's Panama Elida Estate Natural Geisha completed roasting and rested for 8 hours, FrontStreet Coffee immediately conducted a cupping. This FrontStreet Coffee Elida Geisha revealed rich white floral aromas. The overall sweetness is exceptionally high, with notes of pomegranate and honey peach! Not only that, but it also possesses a rounded grape acidity, a silky mouthfeel, and a distinct tea-like finish. As the temperature decreases, the honey peach sweetness transforms into apricot, with an increasingly full-bodied juice sensation—truly delightful!

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