Panama Premium Boquete – Damarli Estate – Catuai Natural Processed

Description

This is season five of working with Keith Pech, owner of Damarli Estate. He has some family in the U.P. (Michigan) and passes by our warehouse from time to time when visiting them. Keith and his father David are on the cutting edge of Panamanian coffee, which says a lot, many think top end Panama coffees are the best in the world. Because he likes us so much, we get the best chops from his farm, as well as from his friends and neighbors. A super cool direct relationship that brings some of the best Panamanian coffees to our customers. Coffee is in the Pech families blood, Keith’s mom is actually part of the Ruiz family, who’s grandfather was one of the first specialty coffee pioneers in Panama.

This Catuai Natural is one of the larger lots this season. A wonderful price for a tasty Panama natural. Catuai is a little fuller flavored strain versus the typica, hints of acidity and soft fruit mark the cup, strong nutty/chocolate like darker tones with a sweet edge. A wonderful more daily drinker from Damarli Estate.

Tasting Notes: Although similar to the Typica, this Catuai is a more potent cup, stronger acidity with more complex darker tones (a little along the lines of African coffees). Light roasts themselves will be brighter with crisp lemony floral notes and more noticeable fruit tones, nutty tones to balance out the cup. Medium roasts bring a smoother and richer cup, develop the nuttiness into more of a malty/chocolate like taste, reduces the fruitiness but keeps the sweetness, still a bit lemony upfront but has a much more noticeable malt like tone with a bit of spice to balance it out. Darker roasts pull a little bitter/malty contrast but it goes well with the roasty and smoky tones and retains a sweet edge. A little longer setup sees a smooth a sweet darker roast.

Roasting Notes: A bit dependent on personal taste what to do with this coffee and can be a bit harder to roast. High chaff, good to reduce the batch size slightly. Looks way darker roasted than it is, even at first crack, looks like you are pushing 2nd crack. If you are seeing splotches of color on a single bean, you are still in the light to medium ballpark. A strong shine to the beans are you are getting closer to 2nd crack than first.  If you like acidity, floral and fruit tones, the light roast cup is pretty cool stuff. If you like traditional Panama and Central American coffee, good to go into the medium roast points to get some darker toned balance. Darker roasts will be exotic for the roast point, but we liked it best before 2nd crack. A longer setup time on these beans will help a ton, blasty coffees often need 3-5 days to start tasting their best.

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.