Sebastian Hernandez, Panama
Lerida Estate
Please tell us a little about yourself:
I work at Lerida Estate, a coffee-producing farm in Boquete, Panama. I'm mainly in charge of quality control, operations, and exports. I'm also a roaster, cupper, and processor. I've been competing for four years in 2022 I placed 3rd, in 2023 6th, in 2024 3rd again, and in 2025 I won 1st place. I started competing as a way to take a step forward in my professional career, and once you're in, you feel like you can't stop at least that's what happened to me. I became very competitive, disciplined, and organized. I believe competitions have had a positive impact not only on my career but also on my personal life. I entered the industry by chance, just a regular job at a coffee shop about seven years ago. The first thing that caught my attention was latte art. From there, I kept studying and learning more, to get to where I am today. I owe a lot to coffee.
What are you excited to do while you are in Milan?
Meeting all these coffee figures I used to only see through my phone on Instagram, YouTube, etc. is a great honor. If I have time, I’d love to visit the San Siro stadium.
What are your interests outside of coffee?
I’m very passionate about video games and gaming computers things like that. I enjoy building and inventing things, and I also like mechanics. I’m a big fan of music in general, tattoos, good food, and animals.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank?
I would like to thank the entire team at Lerida for their support, and especially Maria and Mario Amoruso for believing in me. To my wife, for always supporting me from beginning to end. To my coach, Alejandro Fábrega, who has been training me for the past four years. To SCAP for supporting and helping competitors. A huge thank you to Kemal Risyad and Frederic Bejo from Archers for assisting me since my national presentation, and also to the team at Panda Bear China for their support and help. I’d like to mention the team at Saza Coffee Japan as well, for their valuable advice. And to everyone in Panama who contributed to making this possible colleagues, farms, friends so many people that I don’t want to risk leaving anyone out. Thank you all so much, because I never could have done this alone.
