Panama Premium Boquete – Finca Stacy – Caturra Washed

Description

A great addition to the Panama lineup. This is one of the more classic tasting coffees, can find similarities in this cup to many of Panama’s neighboring countries. Low acidity, medium bodied, nutty/malty/herbal tones. A very clean lot best from medium to dark roasts.

Although the beans are grown by Finca Stacy, Keith and his dad do all the processing for them. This is one of their first washed processed offerings and we thought a great classic example of Panamanian coffee.

This is the neighboring farm to Damarli Estate, they do not have processing equipment but being in the best growing territory, sharing a border with the world class Damarli Estate, which also happens to have some of the most advanced processing equipment and techniques, does have its benefits.

This is season three working with Damarli Estate and boy is it paying off. Keith Pech, owner of Damarli Estate has some family in the U.P. (Michigan) and passes by our warehouse from time to time visiting his family. Keith is really on the cutting edge of Panamanian coffee, this was a rough year for Damarli, crazy shortages but we were still able to get our hands on 40 pounds of his best coffee!

Tasting Notes: Great cup from medium to dark roasts. Unlike many of the other Panama offerings, this is a lower acidity cup, fuller bodied and on the malty/herbal side. We like it best at a strong medium roast; smooth, semi-sweet & rich with a complex dark tone. It will turn itself into a roasty and strong malty/baker-chocolate like cup once you hit 2nd crack.  Clean enough bean for lighter roasting, will introduce a hint of floral, and presents it a little sweeter, but seemed to promote the herbal spice of the cup, instead of the tasty malt like notes that the medium to dark roasts give.

Roasting Notes: An easy bean to roast; even roasting with great prep. Being a small boutique batch of washed processed, there is a little more chaff on the beans than most other washed processed coffees, but still far less than a natural. Darkens up a bit quicker than most, can go a little quick from first to second crack.

Damarli Estate is a specialty coffee farm located in Boquete, Panama. The estate dates back to 1995 when David Pech, a photographer in the United States and his wife Lia Pech (Ruiz) bought the farm from a bank foreclosure. Lia’s family, the Ruiz family, had been heavily involved in the coffee industry in Boquete for four generations; thus David and Lia were encouraged to get involved with the family industry as well.

Damarli, as a name came from a combination of the original investors: David and Lia and David’s father and mother (Manfred and Ruth Pech) – DA- for David, MA- for Manfred, R – for Ruth and LI – for Lia.

The estate was planted in 1996 and began to produce in 2001. For over one decade Damarli Estate sold the raw coffee cherries to Casa Ruiz, which was Lia’s family’s coffee business. In 2014, David and Lia’s son Keith moved from the United States to Panama in order to begin a new project at Damarli Estate. This was the beginning of a new chapter for the beans.

Keith began to identify all the unique coffee varieties that were grown at Damarli Estate and market them internationally. Keith and David began to process their own coffee at the estate in a way that would create sweet and unique cup profiles that had little to no water waste. They built a house on the estate to accept visitors, a new mill and drying beds to process all the coffees and a coffee tasting lab to accept international buyers. Damarli Estate is a beautiful farm filled with tropical birds, tall canopy forests and enchanting sunrises.