Panamanian coffee: The Big Winner for 2024

Boquete, Chiriquí – After several days of tasting the various varieties of the best coffees in Panama, the international judges determined that the award for the best producer of the year goes to Lamastus Family Estate. 

Lamastus Family Estate also obtained first place in the natural process Geisha coffee variety, in addition to fourth place for washed process.  First place in Geisha with a washed process went to the coffee of producer Marcus Durán, who grows the beans in the mountains of Camiseta in Boquete, Chiriquí.  Meanwhile, in the varietal category, first place went to Black Mountain coffee, a bean called Chirozo, from producer Hunter Tedman, produced in Boquete. 

For Wilford Lamastus, the prize won by the Panama Cup means “consistency in work on the farm, it is a very close competition, but behind everything there is a passion for producing the best coffee in the country.”  Lamastus also congratulated all the best coffee lots that achieved high scores. “That makes Panama’s name very high when it comes to coffee,” he stressed. 

Scores

Lamastus Family Estates with the Elida Geisha Natural Torre lot was crowned not only as champion of the Natural Geishas after reaching 95.13 points based on 100 in the competition, but was also the winner of the Panama Cup with 13 accumulated points. It is the highest award given to the producer who accumulated the most points during the competition.  It should be noted that in the Washed Geisha coffee category, first place went to the Kaisen Finca Larayne batch with 95.5 points, from Marcus Durán, and the surprise of the year was achieved by the Black Moon Constellation Chiroso batch from Black Moon Farm, a coffee that surprises and breaks a historical record in the varietal category with a score of 94.13. 

Reactions

Hunter Tedman, president of the Specialty Coffee Association of Panama (SCAP), at the end of the award ceremony said that it is a source of pride not only for the producer, but for the country, that Panama Geisha continues to remain a reference for coffees of specialty worldwide and with the new revelation of the Varietal it is now on par with the Geishas in quality.