Region: Alto Quiel, Boquete, Chiriqui
Elevation: 1600 masl
About: Finca La Estrella is a 7-hectare coffee farm in Alto Quiel, Boquete, managed by the Rios Saraceni family since its founding in 1914. The farm is currently under the stewardship of Giovanna Saraceni. The farm's legacy began with Antonio Saraceni, an Italian immigrant who arrived in Panama in 1900. With his background in viticulture, he acquired land in Alto Quiel and began cultivating coffee. The farm has been passed down through generations, with each subsequent generation being managed by women of the Saraceni family.
Lost Origin is the brainchild of Juan-Andres Typaldos and Franz Zeimetz, craft brewers at Panama City's Casa Bruja. With their craft brewing background, Lost Origin offers a unique perspective on coffee processing, allowing them to experiment and challenge conventional ideas.
All Lost Origin coffees are transported in refrigerated trucks to their processing lab. Upon arrival, each lot undergoes a unique fermentation process, after which the coffee is placed on drying trays, and moves through Lost Origin’s meticulously designed two-stage drying process. This particular lot, #66, took 20 days to slowly dry.
Starting with a cold water and 2% citric acid float to diminish the microbial load from post-harvest transport. This lot was then fermented in an open tank at 28°C for 96 hours, inoculated with Pichia Kluyveri and Lactobacillus Plantarum, giving the lot a fun, funky complexity. After 96 hours, the cherries were rinsed with cold water, depulped, and then dried.
