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 Typica Natural is nice and exotic but a bit on the milder side compared to the Catuai Natural, nice contrast between the two. Awesome prep and one heck of a cup. Pretty exotic stuff, if you are new to Natural Processed coffees, be in for something different. The Typica strain is known for is sweet edge and milder cup properties. Usually on the nutty side lighter roasted, more chocolate/nutty darker roasted. It is the same variety that they grow for traditional Kona coffee, but also used for many other Central American coffees.
We tried to get more but the Typica crop was way down this season, only 200 pounds this year! The Catuai is in the same ballpark and a much larger lot luckily.
Tasting Notes: A clean, sweet & smooth cup. Best at the lighter roast points but works nicely in the medium roast range as well. Lighter roasts focus the tastes more around the brighter citric/fruit tones: a hint of lemony citric that fades into a slight red fruit or melon like note, balancing with a sweet nutty undertone. A good daily drinking lighter roast coffee. Comparatively to the Catuai, the Typica is mild mannered, delicate, less acidic, smoother, but with similar tastes. Medium roasts bring a more traditional cup with better balance. This should be the minimum roast level if you do not want noticeable floral/fruit notes upfront. Still has a bit of jazz upfront but a more pronounced nutty/malty tone to balance it out. The fruitiness turns a bit more normal for a natural, red-fruit like and sweet.
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 on a single beans, you are still in the light to medium ballpark. If you like acidity, floral and fruit tones, the front loaded 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.
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.
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