Amoruso – Panama

Lerida was born of an attachment: to a family, a place, and coffee. Julia and Tollef Monniche founded it in Boquete, on the slopes of the Barú volcano. What began as little more than the family’s home coffee soon became a family business, and the farm came to hold a special place in the country’s history: in 1929, it became the first to export Panamanian coffee to Germany. It thus paved the way early on for a specialty coffee industry in this small country—and those first lots already stood out in the cup.

The farm is now in the hands of Maria Antonella Amoruso and her family, who run it just as the Monniches did before them: as a family. They also grow Geisha, the variety that made Panama famous, following in its footsteps among neighboring families who share the same forests, birds, and history. This coffee bears their name.

In July 2026, Lerida took first place in Best of Panama, the major national competition, in the natural Geisha category, with 95.63 points. The award-winning lot is a Geisha, not the Typica featured here, but it comes from the same farm and the same hands.

This lot comes from Michela Estate, the plot that finca Lerida farms in the El Salto area, at 1,600 meters. Typica—the original variety, from before the selections—was sorted by flotation, then fermented for two days in a tank before drying for twelve days on raised beds in full sun.

The natural process brings out the fruit without weighing it down: citrus first, then a honey-like sweetness, and a juicy cup held in balance by its acidity. The body remains light, which is rare for a coffee dried in the cherry.