Gesha
Honey
Finca Lerida

Tastes Like: Rosehip, Limeade, Franginipani

Origin: Finca Lerida, Chiriqui, Panama

Variety: Gesha

Producer:   Sonia Amoruso

Elevation: 1600-2000 masl

Process: Honey

Story: Finca Lerida is currently owned and managed by Sonia Amoruso and her extended family, who purchased the property in 2009. As a farm however, the estate dates back over 100 years. The property includes a vintage hotel with amenities that equal the valley’s natural beauty, and which serves as a landmark to local history and has been a source of income for the estate for generations. The hotel was the primary focus when Sonia’s family first purchased the estate. However Sonia, originally planning to manage hospitality, was quickly captured by the estate’s coffee production and has managed the coffee operations ever since.

Sonia works with 30 year-round employees and another 60 people who meticulously pick ripe cherry during the harvest. Lerida’s central wet mill is as old as the farm itself, and fresh-picked cherry is still sorted for under-ripes and damages using the siphon invented by the original owner in the 1920s. Then the coffee is depulped, fermented, washed, and carefully dried on covered patios and raised bed. Finca Lerida also has housing and a school for employees and their families.