How do coffee farms like Elida Estate grow green beans?
Elida Estate in Panama's Boquete region sits within Baru Volcano National Park, where coffee trees grow between 1,670 and 1,850 meters. That altitude makes it one of Panama's two highest coffee farms. Cooler temperatures slow cherry ripening by about a month, while mineral-rich volcanic soil feeds the trees, and only 30 of the estate's 65 hectares are planted, with the rest left as forest.
The Lamastus family has run Elida since 1918, cultivating Catuai, Typica, and Geisha. Cherries are picked and moved to the processing plant halfway up the mountain right away, so quality does not suffer from delay. This combination of altitude, soil, and what many consider a strong climate for growing coffee helps explain the estate's consistent cupping results.
Panama Elida Estate is located in the Boquete production area, enjoying the superior microclimate and ultra-high-altitude growing conditions of Baru Volcano National Park, and is a renowned specialty coffee estate passed down through the Lamastus family for a hundred years. This article will introduce the estate's growing environment, coffee varieties, harvesting standards, post-processing procedures, and the low-temperature resting process for green beans one by one, and analyze the reasons behind Elida coffee's unique flavor. It also includes Front Street Coffee's recommended brewing parameters and flavor description for coffee lovers' reference.
A brief introduction to the growing environment and processing methods of Front Street Panama Elida Estate coffee beans
Panama's Elida Estate is located in Boquete—a famous specialty coffee producing region in Panama. The estate covers a total area of 65 hectares, with more than half of the land falling within the boundaries of Baru Volcano National Park. Only 30 hectares are actually used for coffee cultivation, while the remaining area still retains the appearance of primitive forest. The coffee trees grow at an altitude between 1,670 and 1,850 meters, which makes Elida one of the two highest coffee estates in Panama (the other estate reaching the same altitude is Carmen Estate in the Volcan Valley).
Such a high altitude brings lower temperatures, and the ripening cycle of coffee cherries is therefore prolonged, about a full month later than the usual ripening time; while the mineral-rich volcanic soil provides abundant nutrients to the coffee trees. Combined with the excellent microclimate created by Baru Volcano, these conditions together help Elida Estate frequently achieve 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 once the coffee cherries are picked, they can be sent to the factory for processing immediately, ensuring that the quality of the coffee cherries is not damaged by delay. Of course, Elida's natural conditions are also suitable for cultivating other high-quality temperate crops, with tree tomatoes and some rare high-altitude fruits growing especially well. Interestingly, the flavors of these fruits can often also be captured in Elida's coffee.
Elida Estate is the most famous estate under the Lamastus family, founded in 1918. Since Robert Lamastus, the founder of the family's coffee estate, planted the first coffee tree, more than a hundred years have passed, and it has also witnessed the rise and popularity of specialty coffee around the world.
Elida Estate is the most famous estate under the Lamastus family, founded in 1918. Since Robert Lamastus, the founder of the family's coffee estate, planted the first coffee tree, more than a hundred years have passed, and it has also witnessed the rise and popularity of specialty coffee around the world.
To this day, Elida Estate is still managed by descendants of the Lamastus family, including the current estate owner Mr. Wilford, Wilford's father Thatcher, and Wilford's son—the fourth-generation successor Wilford Jr.
As a traditional coffee family, coffee has long been deeply rooted in their family bloodline. Wilford was born on a small coffee farm, and his parents were also born on coffee farms. At present, the coffee produced by the estate comes from Elida Estate, Luito Estate, and驴子 Estate.
In addition to possessing exceptional ultra-high altitude and microclimate, estate owner Mr. Wilford also devotes great effort to harvesting and processing. In order to meet the highest standards, Elida Estate's coffee is only allowed to be picked by hand at the ripest stage (Ripe on Pinton). The higher the ripeness of the fruit, the higher the sugar content of the mucilage, which is also an important foundation for creating Elida's high-quality flavor.
Estate owner Mr. Wilford is not only extremely strict about coffee cultivation and processing, but is also more particular than his peers in the "purification" stage after green bean processing is completed. Taking Panama Elida as an example, after green bean processing is completed, it needs more than 5 months of low-temperature Resting to remove greenness, so that the coffee's flavor can develop in a more balanced and fuller direction.
(The concept of low-temperature Resting was strongly advocated by coffee master George Howell starting in 2006. We have found that although green beans produced in subtropical regions certainly need low-temperature storage, the time required for low-temperature Resting also changes depending on the processing method and altitude. For Panama Elida, 5 months of low-temperature Resting is the optimal duration.)
The oldest coffee estate in Panama's history and also one of the highest-altitude estates in the Boquete region, it is an estate that grows Geisha at an ultra-high altitude (2050m). It has not only won the BOP championship many times, but is also the holder of the BOP cupping score record (in 2018, Elida Green Tip Washed Geisha refreshed the 2016 BOP Elida Green Tip Washed Geisha record of 94.15 with an ultra-high score of 94.66).
In addition to creating good coffee cultivation conditions, the Lamastus family, which operates Elida Estate, has also planted many different native tree species on the estate, both to provide shade for the coffee trees and to create a friendly habitat for birds. In terms of fertilization, the Lamastus family uses manual fertilization combined with a small amount of chemical fertilizer, but never uses pesticides or herbicides harmful to the environment. Elida's selected lots rank among the winning lots of Best of Panama year after year, and prices have also risen year by year. Among estates in Central American countries, Elida should be the one with the most "Kenya blackberry fruit profile," and its black berries and long-lasting complex fruit flavors often draw unstinting praise. What judges also flock to is Elida's unique "savoriness," a term derived from "Umami." At present, many experts have included "umami" among the five basic tastes (sour, sweet, bitter, salty, umami). Umami works similarly to MSG, and it can be found in ingredients used to enhance freshness or make stock, such as dried shiitake mushrooms, aged cheese, and kombu. Umami in coffee is related to a good "aftertaste," for example, a long and pleasant finish after slurping, and these all belong to the perception of savory flavor.
Typica is one of the oldest varieties of Arabica coffee discovered today, and the other is called Bourbon. The Arabica species originated in Ethiopia, and this species still grows naturally in the highlands of the local primitive rainforest. Typica beans are slender, the tree is tall, the fruit is oval, and the branches are slightly slanted. Typica's four branches are long and spread out, with an inclination angle between 50 and 70 degrees. The coffee yield of each tree is very low, but the cupping score is very high.
The equipment, utensils, and processing steps at Elida's processing station are all meticulous in every detail. Generally speaking, if coffee cherries that have undergone post-processing to a certain stage have a moisture content exceeding 20 percent for a long time, not only are the high-quality components in the coffee cherries easily lost, but there is also the possibility of producing off-flavors. In addition, Elida's processing station is still at a relatively high altitude, so it is equipped with dedicated processing equipment to control the temperature and timing during drying, all of which must be controlled just right.
The green beans use a sun-dried processing method rarely seen in Central America—ripe deep red to purple cherries at peak maturity are harvested by hand and directly sun-dried for more than two weeks. The sugars in the cherry pulp and the fermentation products produced under just the right conditions by microorganisms during sun drying are all concentrated and infused into the coffee beans, giving this rare high-altitude Front Street Panama sun-dried coffee a rich dry aroma blending strawberry, cream, and toasted bread, as well as a transformation after entry into the mouth into rich berries and tropical fruits mixed with vanilla.
FrontStreet Coffee recommended brewing methods: siphon, pour-over
Grind size: 3.5 (Japanese Fuji R440)
V60 dripper, 15g coffee grounds, water temperature 90 degrees, grind 3.5, water-to-coffee ratio close to 1:15
Bloom with 30g water, bloom time 30s
Stages: pour water to 120ml and stop, then slowly pour water to 225ml,
That is, 30-120-225
On entry, one can clearly perceive the flavors of peach, raisins, and orange, then slowly the sweetness of sugarcane and melon emerges, and the finish carries the flavors of grapefruit and green tea.
[Front Street Panama Elida Estate Sun-Dried Coffee Beans] Purchase link: https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z10.3-c-s.w4002-15673140470.10.f7241b50pCetSi&id=575648438828
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
