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About Panama Elida Vuelta Geisha Natural
One of our top coffees of the year. A direct trade import, this coffee arrived direct from the farm via airfreight and stored in vacuum bags.
Panama's Elida Estate Geisha is one of today's most sought after coffees. The farm has produced world class Geisha coffees and in recent years, an annual private auction attracts elite buyers from around the world who pay hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of dollars per pound for Elida's hallmark green coffee offerings. In 2024, they set an auction record of $10,013.00 per kg, roughly $4,550 per pound. The Vuelta plot of land is the highest elevation, fully productive property at Elida Estate. It is entirely located within the Baru Volcano National Park, the most biodiverse coffee area of Boquete, providing a unique and rare terroir ideal for growing Geisha coffee.
Elida Esate has had a huge string awards, accolades and competition success. After two back to back years, 2018 and 2019 in which Elida Estate won 1st place in both Natural and Washed Geisha categories in the Best of Panama competitions, access to their coffee became more rarified. It was an unheard of accomplishment when one considers the quantity and quality of the competition. The prices those coffees achieved at auction broke world records at the time. We have had a terrific relationship with the family for many years. In May of this year we visited the farm and cupped multiple tables of geisha with different preparations. This coffee is a powerhouse of floral elegance showing bergamot and mulitple layers of flavors.
This is Classic traditional processed geisha natural. The traditional natural process is without fermentation and involves drying cherries/fruits on beds or in the Dry Room (DR) for around 30 days. Sometimes, grape colored fruit is harvested instead of red burgundy colored cherries. Vuelta Geisha is grown between 1,925 and 1,960 meters above sea level.
Elida Estate has been run by the Lamastus family for four generations, starting in 1918 when
the founder of the farm, Robert Lamastus, bought property along the Baru
Volcano. There are three farms in the Lamastus family: Elida Estate (in Alto Quiel), El Burro
Estate, and Luito Geisha Estate. With elevations between 5500 and 8200 feet
above sea level, Elida is the highest coffee farm in Panama, although coffee is
only grown between 5600 and 6200 feet. A large part of the farm is a dedicated
ecological reserve area in Volcan Baru National Park, a world heritage site. On a side note, Panama is one of a handful of countries that is carbon negative. Because of its enormous amount of forested, Panama absorbs more climate-changing emissions than it produces. This environmental awareness is top of mind by its coffee producers.
Barry Levine (Willoughby's/Roastmasters) and Wilford Lamastus (Elida)
Elida has broken numerous world coffee price records. In 2018 Elida's Geisha Green Tip Washed sold for $661.00/lb at
auction, and their Geisha Green Tip Natural sold for a whopping $803.00/lb. In the 2019 Best of Panama competition, Elida Estate won first place in
the two categories again, Natural and Washed Geisha, and again broke records when their
Natural Geisha sold for $1029.00/lb. at auction. The 2020 Auction saw Elida
place in the top ten of several categories; one Geisha Natural lot from La Torre
placed #6 in its Category. This year (2021) Elida held a private auction in which several more records were broken. Two lots of Torre ASD sold for $311 and $201 per pound. A special, small lot called Aguacatillo Geisha Natural ASD sold for --- wait for it --- $4,100 per pound! Most of this coffee is purchased by roasters in Asia. This year the highest price in the auction did not quite last years but sold for $3,606 with the majority of Geisha coffees in the $200 - $250 range.
A cupping table at Elida Estate
"Classic" Natural are fully ripe cherries that are washed then slowly dried on raised beds. Each day they turned over multiple times to promote even drying. The Lamastus family are absolutely masterful at not only growing great coffee fruit, but can finesse an outstanding array of flavors and nuances from the fruit through careful and experienced processing technique. Classic Natural represents the purest form dried-in-the-skin coffee, where the fruit's pulp penetrates the bean (seed) within. It takes a great hand, experience, intelligence and natural resources to produce a coffee this good! While this coffee is expensive to some it will be seen as a bargain to others but either way it is worth every penny.
- Farm: Elida Estate
- Plot: Vuelta
- Producer: Wilford Lamastus Sr.
- Province: Chiriqui
- District: Boquete
- Micro region: Alto Quiel
- Township: Los Naranjos
- Altitude: 1,925 - 1,960 above sea level
- Coffee variety: Geisha
- Harvest date: April 22, 2025
- Processing: Classic Natural
Around half of the Elida Estate farm is located within the Volcan Baru National Park, a protected ecological reserve and sanctuary for exotic plants, birds, butterflies and mammals (like the tropical tiger). The Baru volcano is one of the highest volcanoes in Central America, at 3,475m/12,475 feet, with an area of 14,000 hectares and 7 different climate zones depending on the elevation. Elida obtained all the benefits from the National Park growing coffee in these altitudes with elevations ranging from 1670 meters up to 2100 meters, one of the many reasons this coffee is produced under unique conditions.The farm property is inside the well protected and biodiverse Baru Volcano National Park with rich volcanic soils, unique microclimate, low temperatures, microorganisms beneficial to coffee, unique coffee yeasts, fungis, fog and mist during the dry season, as well as a virgin-native cloudy rain forest that surrounds the coffee trees. These attributes create a distinguished cup. Coffee quality is directly related to the elevation where the coffee is grown, the higher you grow it, the better the quality.
Wilford Lamastus (Elida). Cold storage for the top Geisha lots.
Cup Characteristics: Wow! That was our first take on this coffee. Super floral with pronounced jasmine and sweet melon. Its high grown pedigree is apparent, showing flavors of grapefruit, jasmine and honeysuckle. Concentrated fruit. An elegant, clean, beautifully process classic geisha natural.
Roasting Notes: Our preferred roasting range for this coffee is midway between 1st and 2nd crack. The delicate qualities will be present throughout this range, with lighter variations highlighting piquancy and citrus notes, while Full City levels will enhance body. Keep in mind that natural processed coffees tend to roast a little quicker than washed, and plan your roast accordingly.
