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Elida Estate

Panama’s Elida Estate has Surprise Cameo on Billions

February 16, 2022 By Michael Leave a Comment


Has specialty coffee finally reached a pop-cultural tipping point?

Famed Panamanian coffee farm Elida Estate had an unexpected cameo in season six, episode four of the television series Billions. In the scene, Mike Prince, played by Corey Stoll, offers Kate Sacker, played by Condola Rashad, a cup of “Elida Geisha” prepared with a Chemex. With a listed price of $600, we can only guess it’s meant to be a Best of Panama-winning auction lot.

The cameo is a welcome change from Hollywood’s typical modus operandi of using Kopi Luwak to denote high-end, luxury coffee. In addition to the ethics of force-feeding animals coffee cherries, coffee professionals are almost universally against Kopi Luwak simply because it tastes bad. There’s nothing about passing through the digestive tract of an animal that will improve a coffee. Having tasted kopi lowak once, (an allegedly “ethically-produced” lot) let it suffice to say it wasn’t an experience I plan on repeating.

Elida Estate’s coffees, however, rank amongst the best coffees in the world. Those lucky enough to taste an auction lot from any of the Lamastus Family’s farms know it’s truly a transcendent experience. If we had billions, we would be drinking it every day too.

Filed Under: Stories Tagged With: Boquete, Elida Estate, Panama, Wilford Lamastus

Coffee’s Grand Cru: A Look Inside Elida Estate

July 5, 2017 By Michael Leave a Comment

Wilford Lamastus Sr. produces some of the most famous coffee in the world, but he only brags about one thing when I visit his award-winning farm Elida Estate: his skimming ability. With a sly grin, he likens his skill at skimming the remaining sediment from each cup to barista competitors, who prepare elaborate espresso beverages while giving a presentation. This rather mundane step between between the aromatic and flavor assessment of coffee is often performed by lab assistants on larger estates, but Lamastus Sr. is not the sort of owner to sit back while other people get their hands dirty. He cups each of the dozens of lots from his two farms and often will give feedback to other producers in the region who come to him for advice.

I’ve cupped coffee hundreds of times, but my pulse quickens as I dip my spoon in the first cup. The modest room is barely large enough for a small round table and a desk, but it’s hosted some of the most …

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Filed Under: Stories Tagged With: Elida Estate, Panama, Wilford Lamastus

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