{"id":2893,"date":"2021-05-31T04:43:51","date_gmt":"2021-05-31T02:43:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/?p=2893"},"modified":"2023-03-31T21:27:25","modified_gmt":"2023-03-31T19:27:25","slug":"wilford-jr-lamastus-the-country-must-reinvent-itself-just-as-our-coffee-did","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/2021\/05\/31\/wilford-jr-lamastus-the-country-must-reinvent-itself-just-as-our-coffee-did\/","title":{"rendered":"Wilford Jr. Lamastus: “The Country must reinvent itself, just as our coffee did”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nowadays, when we think of the best coffee\ninternationally, the most expensive and sought, after by coffee lovers and\nexperts comes to mind, the Geisha coffee produced in Panama. This variety has\nbeen harvested and produced for years in different farms in Chiriqui Highlands.\nOne of the families that have held the most important awards in the\ninternational coffee industry in recent years is the Lamastus family, who s\neffort  contributed to improve each year\nthe results of the production of their specialty coffee with the Geisha variety\n(from Ethiopia) that manages to acquire stronger flavors when planted in the\nfertile lands of Chiriqui, at the indicated height and with a unique\nmicroclimate, creating the best cup of coffee. The Lamastus family has managed\nto break records for the flavor quality that can be tasted in a cup,\npositioning Panama as the country with the most valued coffee in the\nspecialized market for this product. The Visitor \/ El Visitante spoke with\nWilford Jr. Lamastus, a fourth generation involved in the coffee industry, who\nexpresses in every word the pride of continuing the legacy of \u201cLamastus Family\nEstates\u201d. The family business is 103 years old. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What makes the\nLamastus family history different and successful in the coffee industry?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cMy\ngreat-grandfather had arrived to build the Canal, and years later he founded\nthe farm where he grew coffee, and worked on exporting. My great-grandmother\nwas left a widow, but she continued to grow and export coffee, and my\ngrandfather did the same. Each one was contributing something to the evolution\nof the coffee industry. We evolved from selling coffee locally to exporting it.\nThen came the quota system, my grandfather was one of the representatives of\nPanama in the International Coffee Organization, which was a way of exporting\ncommercial coffee not specialty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, in 1991 Panama entered a very\nstrong coffee crisis. Years later, the export quota agreements had been broken,\nand he had to reinvent the company. My father was the one who had the vision to\nreinvent itself, and turn Panama into a producer of specialty coffee, since for\ncommercial production we did not had the capacity to compete against countries\nwith much higher production volumes. That was when Panama began to produce\nspecialty coffee for more demanding markets. This begins in 1995 with the\nSpecial Coffee Association of Panama, where my father was one of the first\nfounders, and also proposed the creation of this movement, where Panama is # 1\nin the world for quality score, price per pound, but it has also been\ninfluential worldwide by putting producers to reinvent themselves to put their\nspecial products to sell at a higher margin or value than the product can\ngenerate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nine years after the association was\ncreated, the Geisha variety was discovered by colleagues in Panama. It was\ndiscovered because of the quality in the cup, not because of the variety that was\nalready known. This means that Panama has shown a tendency to differentiate\nitself from the rest of the world because of how a variant of coffee hits\ndifferently. This variety was replanted in many farms in the country, which\ngives us all the opportunity to position ourselves as # 1 in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the years 2015 and 2016, we achieved\nthe most important awards and the highest scores in the country and worldwide.\nWe broke the record three times in a row. Sometimes one or the other wins, but\nlocal Geisha producers have been collectively positioned as the world’s\nspecialty coffee by international evaluations and auction prices determined by\nbuyers from North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. “<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We would say that the\ncountry should take its example of being able to reinvent itself …<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPanama has to discover and understand\nwhat we are. In coffee we are a country that can\u2019t compete in quantities, all\nour neighbors have higher productivity for land. Panama must be specialized in\nalmost everything it does, because in few things we can compete for quantity \u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is the formula\nfor each new generation to continue the legacy and introduced growth?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cSince we are young, family members take\nus to participate in work activities. They not only took us to work, they took\nme to play at the coffee plantations. We came with the tradition – because my\ngrandfather likes taking a family photo in the coffee plantation when coffee\nflourished. All that grows roots in us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We must also be aware of new trends in the\nworld, because if we continue in the same way, it will not be sustainable. My\nfather is still active, a few years ago he told me that we should think about\ntourism because it generated significant income. This is how we have evolved\ntogether. Maybe my generation sees other things like creating brands, managing\ncommunication networks, and allowing me to contribute. Likewise, we also see innovation\nin creating new flavors of coffee through its processes, using nature to our\nadvantage, combining the old school with the current one. It is not only to\nfeel heir to, but to feel part of, and to be the ones who bring evolution.\nLikewise, when I have my children and nephews, some of them will want to enter\nthe business and do it in the best possible way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are in the fifth generation Lamastus,\nthere is a five-year-old nephew, every time he sees the coffee being prepared,\nhe asks questions and likes to go to the farm. It is in their DNA \u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When an American,\nEuropean or Asian tastes a cup of coffee produced on their farm, what does that\ncup of coffee tell them about Panama?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPanamanian Geisha coffee (from any farm\nin Panama) will always be the most expensive on a coffee menu anywhere in the\nworld. There are other Panamanian coffees that are expensive too. When those\nthings happen, coming from a fairly small rural town, and we see how in cities\nlike New York, Los Angeles, Shanghai, Tokyo, Korea, they see Panama coffee as\nthe most important and the most expensive, for them it is very important that\nwhen buying, the package says Panama. One feels great pride because you are exporting\nthe name of the country in the best possible way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What can I say about those who drink\nPanama coffee? That it has a differentiating effect. Our geographical condition\nis unique, we are a country lying between two oceans, the tropics, our natural\nbiodiversity, all of this is being proven by those who buy a cup of coffee. An\nexpert told us that it is not only to taste the nature and the climate around\nyou. It is also the people and culture that have contributed a lot to this coffee,\nthe people who came to work at the Canal, as well as the Ngobe and Spanish\nindigenous peoples; the client proves that unity, collaboration, as well as\nnature and culture \u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How has Geisha coffee\nsupported the country brand? How do you think we could do to promote it more internationally?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cCoffee has made people from around the world start to hear the name of our  country in other ways and wonder what is in Panama, it is a way in which the Geisha contributes to the country and they see it as a tourist attraction. There is a niche in those who love and specialize in coffee. What can we do? Talk and write about that, that each government brings the Geisha coffee from Panama to other countries as a gift, so that people have knowledge that Panama has a coffee trail. Governments, advertising and the media have to look for ways to bring communication of the Geisha to an international level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nowadays, when we think of the best coffee internationally, the most expensive and sought, after by coffee lovers and experts comes to mind, the Geisha coffee produced in Panama. This variety has been harvested and produced for years in different farms in Chiriqui Highlands. One of the families that have held the most important awards […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3620,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2893"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2893"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2893\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3621,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2893\/revisions\/3621"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}