What Makes Elida Estate Typica Coffee Distinct?

Panama Elida Estate grows natural Typica at 1,850 meters in the Boquete region, on coffee farms run by the Lamastus family for about a century. The high-altitude microclimate, hand-picking and low-temperature resting produce a sun-dried Typica with peach, raisin, orange and sugarcane notes, a profile quite different from the better-known Geisha from Hacienda La Esmeralda.

Boquete sits in Chiriqui Province near the Baru Volcano, where cold air converges above 6,500 feet along the Central Mountain Range and creates diverse microclimates. That combination of temperature and rainfall lets coffee farms there grow healthy trees. Elida's green beans, roasting curve and brewing parameters are covered in the full breakdown.

In the landscape of Panamanian specialty coffee, Hacienda La Esmeralda's Geisha is certainly renowned, but knowing only that one could mean missing out on many other wonderful things. As a century-old treasure passed down through the Lamastus family, Elida Estate—with the high-altitude microclimate of the Boquete region, strict hand-picking, and low-temperature resting—produces a uniquely flavored sun-dried Typica. Front Street Coffee is recommending this bean this time, breaking down one by one its enchanting expression interwoven with peach, raisin, orange, and sugarcane notes—from the terroir of the region, the estate's history, to green bean characteristics, roasting curve, and brewing parameters—to take you to experience another charm of Panamanian coffee.

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Front Street knows well that coffee from Panama's Hacienda La Esmeralda is highly attractive, thanks to the area's superior climate conditions and the Geisha variety planted there, which is precisely why it is so sought after. However, Front Street believes that if one only recognizes Hacienda La Esmeralda's Geisha when tasting Panamanian coffee, one will miss out on many great coffees. Panama's famous estates go far beyond just La Esmeralda—Elida Estate is equally outstanding, so Front Street specifically recommends a Panama Elida sun-dried Typica. As for why Front Street strongly recommends Elida Estate, the reasons are as follows...

Front Street Coffee Panama Elida Estate Sun-Dried Typica

Panama Elida Estate

Region: Boquete, Panama

Estate: Elida Estate

Altitude: 1850 meters

Variety: Typica

Processing Method: Sun-Dried

01 | Region Introduction

Boquete Region

Boquete is a town in Chiriqui Province, located near the border between Panama and Costa Rica, adjacent to the famous Baru Volcano, with beautiful scenery, fertile soil, and climate and soil conditions extremely suitable for producing high-quality coffee.

The microclimate of Panama's Boquete highlands is an important resource that makes Boquete's specialty coffee stand out uniquely; Panama's east-to-west geography causes cold air currents to converge above 6500 feet along the Central Mountain Range, thus forming diverse microclimates in the Boquete area, making temperature and rainfall very suitable for plant growth, so the coffee trees here grow extremely well.

02 | Estate Introduction

Panama's Elida Estate is located in Panama's renowned specialty coffee region—Boquete. Elida Estate has a total area of 65 hectares, more than half of which lies within the boundaries of Baru Volcano National Park. Only 30 hectares of the estate are used for planting coffee trees, with the rest preserved as virgin forest.

Coffee is grown at altitudes ranging from 1670 meters to 1850 meters, making it one of the two highest-altitude coffee estates in Panama (the other estate with equal altitude is Carmen Estate in the Volcan Valley). In such a high-altitude environment, low temperatures delay the ripening period of coffee cherries by about one month compared to normal; the fertile volcanic soil provides ample nutrients for the coffee, and combined with the excellent microclimate brought by Baru Volcano, Elida Estate repeatedly achieves outstanding results in cupping competitions.

Elida Estate mainly cultivates three varieties: Catuai, Typica, and Geisha. The estate's processing plant is located halfway up the mountain, so after picking, coffee can be immediately transported to the factory for processing, ensuring the quality of the coffee cherries is not affected. Of course, Elida's environment is also suitable for growing other high-quality temperate crops, especially tree tomatoes and some uncommon high-altitude fruits. Interestingly, the flavors of these fruits can often be traced in Elida's coffee.

Elida Estate is the most renowned estate of the Lamastus family, founded in 1918. From the time Robert Lamastus, founder of the Lamastus family coffee estates, planted his first coffee tree, a century has passed, witnessing the global rise of specialty coffee. To this day, Elida Estate is still carried on by descendants of the Lamastus family, including estate owner Mr. Wilford, Wilford's father Thatcher, and Wilford's son/fourth-generation successor Wilford Jr. As a traditional coffee family, coffee has long been in their family genes. Wilford was born on a small coffee farm, and his parents were also both born on coffee farms. Currently, the coffee produced by the estate comes from Elida Estate, El Burro Estate, and Luisito Estate.

In addition to the exceptional ultra-high altitude and microclimate, estate owner Mr. Wilford has also put great effort into harvesting and processing. To achieve the highest standards, Elida Estate's coffee only allows hand-picking of the ripest coffee cherries (Ripe on Pinton). The high ripeness of the fruit naturally means high sugar content in the mucilage, which is also the foundation for Elida's high-quality flavor.

In addition to being extremely strict about coffee cultivation and processing, estate owner Mr. Wilford is also more rigorous than his peers when it comes to the "purification" of green beans after processing. Taking Panama Elida as an example, after green bean processing is completed, it requires more than 5 months of low-temperature resting to remove greenness, which allows the coffee flavor to develop more balanced and full. (Low-temperature resting is a green bean purification concept vigorously promoted by coffee master George Howell starting in 2006. We found that green beans from subtropical regions certainly need to be placed in a low-temperature environment, but different processing methods and altitudes will change the low-temperature resting time. For Panama Elida, 5 months of low-temperature resting is optimal.)

The oldest coffee estate in Panama's history and one of the highest-altitude estates in the Boquete region, an estate growing Geisha at ultra-high altitude (2050m). It has not only won BOP championships multiple times but also holds the BOP cupping score record (in 2018, Elida's Green Tip Washed Geisha broke the 2016 BOP Elida Green Tip Washed Geisha record of 94.15 with an ultra-high score of 94.66).

03 | Front Street Elida Estate Green Bean Analysis

Typica is one of the oldest varieties of Arabica coffee discovered to date, the other being Bourbon. Arabica originated in Ethiopia, and this species still grows naturally in the local pristine rainforest highlands. Typica beans are slender, the tree is tall, the fruit is oval-shaped, and the branches are slightly inclined. Typica leaves are elongated, spreading outward, with an inclination angle of 50-70 degrees. Each tree's coffee yield is very low, but the cupping score is very high.

04 | Front Street Elida Estate Roasting Analysis

Because of using a lower temperature for bean charging, the flavor is not as clean and intense as when charging at high temperature, but the advantage is that the mouthfeel will be very soft and smooth. Since the development time after first crack is very short, the heat must be sufficient, otherwise the target drop temperature cannot be reached and the degree of caramelization will be insufficient. I will use a gliding phase—this is what most roasting beginners ask about. Actually, the gliding action is simply reducing heat or turning off the flame, using the roaster's temperature to continue roasting the beans. Throughout the roasting process, the beans are absorbing heat; only first crack and second crack are exothermic actions. It is best not to increase the flame during these two stages, otherwise the beans easily develop a spicy sensation.

Gliding emphasizes that with the flame off, using the residual heat of the roaster and the heat released by the beans during the cracking phase, the roasted beans continue to roast slowly.

Roasting machine: Yangjia 600g semi-direct fire

Charge when the drum temperature rises to 170°C, set airflow to 3, after 30 seconds adjust heat to 140°C, airflow unchanged, turning point at 1'25'', adjust heat once at 140°C. At this point the bean surface turns yellow, the grassy smell completely disappears, dehydration is complete, adjust heat to 110°C, adjust airflow to 4;

At 8'45'', ugly wrinkles and dark streaks appear on the bean surface, and the toast aroma clearly turns into coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this time, listen carefully for the sound of first crack. At 9'07'' first crack begins, reduce heat to 90°C, adjust airflow to 4 (adjusting heat must be done very carefully, not so low that there is no cracking sound). 1'45'' after first crack, drop at 190°C.

Cupping:

Dry aroma: caramel, roasted almond, floral

Wet aroma: jackfruit, fermented wine aroma

Mouthfeel: smooth on entry, with prominent raisin, peach, orange, cantaloupe, sugarcane, and caramel flavors, green tea tea-like sensation, high cleanliness.

05 | Front Street Elida Brewing Analysis

Recommended brewing method: pour-over Grind size: fine granulated sugar (80% passing through No. 20 sieve) V60 dripper, 15g coffee, water temperature 90-92°C, water-to-coffee ratio close to 1:15

Bloom with 30g water, bloom time 30s Stages: pour to 120ml and stop, slowly pour to 225ml, i.e., 30-120-225

[Front Street Panama Elida Sun-Dried Typica] Flavor and mouthfeel: On entry, peach, raisin, and orange flavors are clearly perceptible, followed by gradually emerging sweetness of sugarcane and cantaloupe, with grapefruit and green tea tea-like flavors in the finish.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.