How Does Front Street Coffee Brew Elida Natural Geisha?

The pour-over recipe for Front Street Elida Estate Natural Geisha uses 15 grams of coffee, 91°C water, and a total of 220 grams in the cup, finished at 2 minutes 20 seconds. The result is a cup with jackfruit, lychee, and a creamy body, plus the blackberry fruit notes and savory finish that made Elida Estate a repeated reliable of Panama winner.

Elida Estate sits in Boquete, Chiriquí Province, Panama, inside Volcán Barú National Park. The Lamastus family has farmed it since 1918, and the land rises from 1,700 to 2,300 meters. Only 30 of its 65 hectares hold coffee farms, growing Catuai, Geisha, and Typica, while the rest stays protected reserve.

As a representative of Panamanian specialty coffee, Elida Estate has been selected for the BOP winning lots every year since 2006, and this year it even took first place in both the washed and natural Geisha categories. This article introduces you to this legendary estate located within Baru Volcano National Park, explains how its unique microclimate creates its signature blackberry fruit notes and savory finish, and shares the pour-over parameters for Front Street Elida Natural Geisha—15 grams of coffee, 91°C water, brewed in a cake cup, reaching 220 grams in 2 minutes 20 seconds, fully presenting the champion flavor of jackfruit, lychee, and creamy smoothness.

When it comes to Elida Estate, specialty coffee lovers have surely heard of it. Since 2006, its selected lots have made the Best of Panama (BOP) winners list every year, and prices have kept rising. Among the many estates in Central America, Elida is probably the most recognizable for its "blackberry fruit notes," earning widespread praise. Equally memorable is its unique savoriness—savoriness in coffee is often linked to a high-quality finish, such as a lasting and pleasant aftertaste left after slurping, all of which are experiences of savory flavor.

This year, Elida Estate's washed and natural Geisha each took first place in the BOP washed and natural categories. This time we have brought Front Street Elida Estate's two Geishas as well as two other coffees, so you can experience different champion flavors all at once.

Elida Estate

Elida Estate is located in the Boquete production area of Chiriquí Province, Panama. Nearly a century has passed since Robert Lamastus planted the first coffee tree on Elida Estate in 1918, and today the estate is managed by Mr. Wilford, the third generation of the Lamastus family.

Elida Estate spans an altitude range from 1,700 meters to 2,300 meters, part of which lies within the boundaries of Volcán Barú National Park (VBNP), a sanctuary for rare plants, birds, and mammals. Volcán Barú National Park is one of the highest volcanoes in Central America, covering 14,000 hectares and divided by altitude into seven different climate zones, including both Elida Estate and El Burro Estate.

Elida Estate has a total area of 65 hectares, of which only 30 hectares are used for growing coffee, with varieties including Catuai, Geisha, and Typica, while the remaining area belongs to the protected ecological reserve of VBNP. Wilford has already tried planting Geisha above 2,050 meters (not yet in production); in the Boquete area, coffee had never before been produced at such a high altitude.

Over the years, Wilford has continued to optimize lot management, providing high-quality Elida coffee in washed, honey, and natural processing methods; roasters around the world select their preferred micro-lots based on cup profile. In 2018, Wilford completed more than 450 lots of coffee. After cupping several lots, we finally selected two Front Street Elida Geishas, one Catuai, and one Typica.

Coffee flavor comes from unique climate and geographical conditions. The reason Front Street Elida Estate coffee is outstanding in quality is due to the following points: the estate is one of the highest-altitude coffee farms in Panama; the coffee grows in fertile young volcanic soil; the ambient temperature is lower; the growing area is shrouded in clouds and mist year-round, which can prevent direct sunlight during the dry season; wild trees in the pristine tropical rainforest bring a large amount of beneficial microorganisms; cold nights extend the coffee tree maturation cycle to four and a half to six and a half years (2 to 4 years longer than average); the ripening time of the coffee cherries is also extended by one month accordingly, and these factors all affect the flavor of the final coffee produced.

Front Street Panama Elida Estate Natural Geisha

First place in the BOP Natural category

Plot: Avocado plot

Altitude: above 1,900 meters

Coffee variety: Geisha

Processing method: Natural

Dominant flavors: jackfruit, lychee, pineapple, cream

How to brew Front Street Panama Elida Estate Geisha well?

Front Street Coffee pour-over reference: Weigh 15 grams of 【Front Street Elida Estate Geisha】 coffee grounds, grind to the texture of fine granulated sugar, use 91°C water, and brew with a cake cup.

With the center of the dripper as the pivot, pour hot water from the gooseneck kettle in clockwise circles while starting the timer. At 15 seconds, pour the coffee up to 30 grams, then stop pouring; at 1 minute, begin the second pour. As with the previous pour, draw clockwise circles centered on the dripper, and do not let the stream hit the place where the coffee grounds meet the filter paper, to avoid channeling.

Pour until the coffee grounds are washed to the outermost ring, leaving one ring, then continue pouring in circles toward the center, and at 2 minutes 20 seconds pour the coffee up to 220 grams, and the brewing is complete.

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