Panama - Elida Geisha Honey Loma 2501

The Lamastus Family Estates have accrued the most Best of Panama awards to date. They won the Producer of the Year Award in 2022, which followed their two peat victories in 2018 for the Washed Geisha category and in 2019 for both Washed and Natural.

A coffee company founded in 1918 by Robert Lamastus, they have evolved with the times under the leadership of Robert's son Thatcher, grandson Wilford Sr., and great-grandson Wilford Jr. Their four farms are Elida, El Burro, Luito, and Lulo. Each of the farms benefits from discrete microclimates which, together with variety, are primarily responsible for the intricacies and flavor potential of their coffees.

Elida Estate is the foremost and flagship farm. It is also the company's headquarters, where the family spends most of their time and where Wilford Sr. would be found working every day. It was named as a tribute to the Lamastus family matriarch, Elida, who single-handedly raised her children and took charge of all farm operations after her husband Robert passed away in the early 1930s. It would take almost two decades before any of her children could assist.

About half of Elida Estate is located within the Volcan Baru National Park, one of Central America’s highest volcanoes, which is also a protected ecological reserve and sanctuary for exotic flora and fauna. 

Among the Estate’s unique world conditions are: high elevation, volcanic soils, low temperatures, beneficial microorganisms, mist during the dry season, and virgin-native cloudy rain forest surrounding the coffee trees. The low night-time temperatures allow for protracted ripening of the coffee cherries, which help make them healthier and the resulting coffee beans sweeter.

The Loma Lot within Elida Estate spans a varied terrain with flat parcels and slopes, as well as shaded and unshaded areas extending from the Estate’s Plano and Torre Lots.

Recognizing they have been blessed with the ideal terroir, the Lamastus family profoundly believes their coffees are a gift from Mother Nature. Respectful of that, they favor innovations in drying techniques and experiment with fermentation but without the use of additional, external material. They also implement traditional methods such as the classic washed, natural, and honey processes.

No matter the processing method, Lamastus Family Estates enforce strict protocols at every stage to achieve excellent quality consistently.

For this classic honey-processed lot, the hand-picked red burgundy Panama Geisha cherries were first left untouched overnight. The next morning, they were de-pulped (i.e. only the skin of the cherries was removed) and then the de-pulped cherries were sent to raised beds to dry for no more than 30 days.

Panama Geisha is a rare, delicate, and complex variety well-loved for its sweet florality and citrus highlights. Since its debut win at the Best of Panama auction in 2004, it has kept specialty coffee lovers everywhere captivated by its endless possibilities, delicacy, complexity, and clarity of flavors. As such, it is often showcased on coffee competition stages by a great number of coffee champions, and it also continues to fetch the highest prices.

While a coffee’s truest intrinsic qualities are still largely believed to be showcased best by traditional washed processing due to the demucilaging, washing, and scrubbing steps removing all traces of fruit from the bean, the expertise of seasoned and passionate producers like Wilford Sr. allows them to direct the flavor character of their coffees, like the Panama Geisha, towards a seemingly endless diversity of delightfully surprising trajectories through other methods.

They do this through the purposeful implementation of other traditional methods like the natural and honey processes, as well as intentional and innovative processing styles, all of which add to the complexity of the cup’s character — for example with added layers of flavor or improved mouthfeel — without compromising its inherent sensorial qualities from terroir and variety.