Panama Lamastus Elida Loma Arriba Geisha DRD

Region: Boquete, Panama
Producer: Lamastus Family Estates – Elida Estate
Plot: Loma Arriba
Varietal: Geisha
Process: DRD Washed – Dark Room Dried Washed
Altitude: 1,800 – 1,900 masl
Taste Note: Orange blossom, pomelo, peach, green tea
Brewing method: Best as pour over (V60, Origami, Kalita)

Roaster’s Note:

This Loma Arriba Geisha opens with delicate orange blossom, followed by a bright citrus character reminiscent of pomelo. Soft peach sweetness adds a gentle stone-fruit layer, while the finish becomes increasingly elegant and tea-like, with the clean character of green tea. The DRD washed process allows these delicate aromatics to remain exceptionally clear, creating a refined and transparent cup.

Bean Info

Elida Estate is part of the Lamastus Family Estates, a multigenerational coffee-growing family with roots in Panama's Boquete highlands dating back to 1918, when Robert Lamastus established the original Elida farm. The family later expanded its coffee-growing operations with additional estates, developing a long-term approach centred on careful cultivation, detailed lot separation and continuous experimentation in processing.

Elida is located on the upper slopes of Volcán Barú, with more than half of the estate situated within the protected ecosystem of Volcán Barú National Park. The area is characterised by rich volcanic soils, high elevation, cool temperatures and frequent cloud and mist cover. These conditions create a slow-growing environment in which coffee cherries take longer to mature, allowing sugars and aromatic compounds to develop gradually.

The farm's location is particularly important to its Geisha. At the highest parts of the estate, nighttime temperatures can become very low, extending the maturation period of the cherries. Combined with the volcanic soil and surrounding cloud forest, this creates an unusually distinctive terroir for high-altitude Geisha. The estate's biodiversity also includes native vegetation and fruit trees, while the surrounding protected forest provides habitat for birds, insects and other wildlife.

The Loma Arriba plot sits at approximately 1,800–1,900 metres, making it one of the high-elevation sections of Elida. Rather than treating the entire estate as one homogeneous farm, the Lamastus family carefully separates coffees according to plot and harvest, allowing the characteristics of individual microclimates to be preserved.

DRD Washed Processing

This lot uses Elida's Dark Room Dried (DRD) Washed process. Ripe, red cherries are selectively hand-picked and then processed using the washed method. According to the supplied information, the coffee undergoes approximately 24–48 hours of fermentation, with fermentation temperatures carefully monitored between roughly 13–15°C at night and 18–20°C during the day.

After washing, the parchment is transferred into the estate's Dark Room, where it is dried without direct sunlight. Instead of rapid solar drying, the environment controls airflow and limits ultraviolet exposure, allowing moisture to leave the coffee slowly and evenly.

This is an important part of the Lamastus approach: the goal is to preserve the delicate aromatic compounds of Geisha while achieving exceptionally even drying. The result is a washed coffee with the clarity and transparency of traditional washed processing, combined with the aromatic concentration and precision that DRD is designed to produce.

The combination of high-altitude Loma Arriba terroir, Geisha genetics, meticulous lot separation and controlled DRD drying makes this a particularly refined expression of Elida Estate. The supplied cupping profile of orange blossom, pomelo, peach and green tea fits naturally with the clean, floral and tea-like character expected from a carefully processed high-elevation Geisha.