Stage\Bonus\Finca Lérida

Tasting Notes: Plumeria, hibiscus, mikan, peach, white tea

Fragrance/Aroma: White florals, slightly creamy, fresh, citrusy, honey
Acidity: Citrus, mellow
Body: Tea-like, delicate, silky
Aftertaste: Lingering, cane sugar sweetness

The dry fragrance opens with soft white florals, led by hibiscus and a faint suggestion of plumeria, alongside fresh citrus and a subtle touch of honey. With brewing, the aromatics become more rounded as the gentle creaminess associated with plumeria comes forward, accompanied by the bright sweetness of mikan and ripe peach.

In the cup, mellow citrus acidity provides the framework, recalling the soft juiciness of mikan rather than a sharp or aggressive citrus profile. Peach follows closely, contributing a delicate stone-fruit sweetness that integrates naturally with the floral character. The white florals remain present throughout, gently lifting the fruit rather than standing apart from it.

A delicate, silky, tea-like body carries these components seamlessly into a more refined mid-to-late palate. Here, the fruit and florals gradually recede to reveal subtle white tea tones, bringing a quiet, lightly tannic elegance to the cup. The transition feels particularly cohesive, with each element flowing naturally into the next rather than arriving as distinct flavour markers.

The finish lingers with a clean cane sugar sweetness, leaving behind faint floral and tea-like echoes. Gentle in its acidity and restrained in its expression, the cup is defined by its clarity and composure, with mikan and peach providing soft fruit sweetness beneath an elegant veil of plumeria, hibiscus, and white tea.

Finca Lérida occupies a singular place in the history of Panamanian coffee. Established in the early twentieth century by Norwegian engineer Toleff Bache Mönniche and his wife Julia, the estate became one of the country's earliest dedicated coffee plantations and a formative force in establishing Panama's reputation as a producer of exceptional coffee. Mönniche brought an engineer's instinct for problem-solving to the farm, developing a gravity-fed processing system and inventing the sifón, a device used to separate lower-density and defective beans. His commitment to quality culminated in 1929, when Finca Lérida made one of Panama's first major coffee exports to Germany, helping introduce Boquete coffee to the European market.

After Mönniche's stewardship, the estate passed to Alfredo and Inga Collins, who carried the farm through the mid-twentieth century and helped preserve its position as one of Boquete's landmark coffee properties. Their sons, Hans and Charlie Collins, continued the family's involvement into the following decades, maintaining the estate's reputation while carrying its historic infrastructure and coffee programme into the modern era. By 2008–2009, Finca Lérida entered its next chapter when the Amoruso family acquired the property.

Today, the operation is led by the Amoruso sisters, particularly Maria Antonella Amoruso, who has helped transform the historic estate into a contemporary producer of highly specialised and competition-level coffees. Under the family's stewardship, Lérida has expanded beyond its original plantation into five distinct estates spread across three areas of Boquete: the flagship Lérida Estate in Alto Quiel; Michela and Flora in Volcancito; and Amelia and Esplendorosa in Jaramillo. This geographic spread is central to the estate's identity. Although all five farms benefit from Boquete's volcanic soils, high elevations and the interaction of Pacific and Caribbean weather systems, differences in elevation, exposure, rainfall, temperature and surrounding forest create distinct microclimates from estate to estate.

Lérida Estate, situated in the prestigious Alto Quiel area, represents the historic heart of the operation and includes some of its highest and most experimental plots. Its cool conditions and elevated terrain favour slow cherry maturation and particularly articulate acidity. Michela and Flora, located in Volcancito, occupy a different environmental setting; Michela, the newer addition to the group, sits at approximately 1,600 masl and has broadened Lérida's range beyond its celebrated Geishas with varieties including Typica, Catuai, Pacamara and SL34. Amelia and Esplendorosa, meanwhile, are located in the Jaramillo mountains, where the surrounding landscape and forest cover create another set of conditions for the development of distinctive, site-specific lots. Together, the five estates allow the Amoruso family to explore how relatively small changes in place can shape the expression of variety and process.

This particular Geisha comes from Michela Estate and reflects that same willingness to experiment with process. After harvest and careful selection, the cherries are placed in GrainPro bags and positioned beneath a 30-metre waterfall, where continuously running water maintains the environment at approximately 18°C. There, the coffee undergoes two days of cold fermentation, slowly developing under natural pressure and a deliberately cool environment. The cherries are then transferred directly to African beds and dried in the sun for 14 days following a natural-process protocol.

It is a fitting expression of modern Finca Lérida: a coffee rooted in one of Panama's oldest coffee estates, yet shaped by the Amoruso family's contemporary approach to site separation, experimental processing and the pursuit of increasingly precise expressions of Boquete's diverse microclimates.

Sourced from: Sewoong GC
We paid: S$211.22/kg

Moisture content: 9.0%
Weight loss: 9.3%
Agtron: W81.9 / G118.3 / △36.4