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Lost Origin Coffee Lab is a processing facility based in Panama City, exploring how controlled fermentation can unlock new expressions of coffee. Inspired by craft beer brewing, they work closely with producers to design highly precise post-harvest protocols, using custom-built stainless steel tanks and selected yeast and bacteria strains to guide flavour development.
Their goal is simple: to create coffees that are both consistently high quality and deeply expressive of process, where fermentation becomes a tool for clarity, not distraction.
Their process for each coffee is straightforward yet unique. First, coffee cherries from their partner producers are carefully transported overnight in a refrigerated truck for 8 hours from Boquete or Volcan to their lab in Panama City. Next, each batch of cherries undergo a unique fermentation protocol, via custom designed fermentation vessels with temperature control, pressure and agitation parameters. The cherries are then dried in 3 stage drying rooms with HEPA filters, humidity control and temperature control. This controlled environment allows them to understand the relationship between coffee and humidity. Lastly, the cherries undergo sorting, through milling, size sifting and density segregating, to ensure the best and most homogenous beans make it to their final lots.
For this coffee, cherries were harvested from Las Margaritas in Volcan, Chiriqui, by the Navarro Family. Fermentation was carried out in custom-built stainless steel tanks, guided by LOY-007P and LOB-001P. The process lasted 3.2 days under controlled conditions. The coffee was dried over 16.4 days in temperature and humidity-regulated drying rooms.
We enjoy this coffee for its vibrant and juicy acidity, reminding us of fresh tropical fruit such as pineapple, passionfruit, guava, with a blueberry like sweetness throughout.
