Description
Mama Cata is a very top notch award winning farm that very seldom makes it to the US. Located in Boquete, the best growing territory in Panama, Jose’s highest elevation and most renowned farm is Mama Cata. He owns Garrido Estate as well as some other smaller farms. Some of the biggest names in Panama coffee are also located in this prime territory, Hacienda Esmeralda and Elida Estate are neighbors. Since his coffee is almost always obtained by foreign markets, many in the US have not heard the name Mama Cata before.
Founded in 1911, one of the original premium Panama farms, currently owned by Jose David Garrido Perez (who also owns Garrido, and just happens to be decent friends with our Panamanian farmer buddy, Keith Pech). Jose always has a ton of his coffees in the Best of Panama competition which will happen in late Sept, we know he will take some awards, does almost every season! This farm knows how to grow/process some of the world’s best
coffee.
Pacamara is a hybrid strain of arabica that when done properly will have a real nice sweet edge; coming from the Pacas strain of arabica, while its bean size and fuller bodied features coming from the Maragogype strain. A perfect match. This is an unscreened lot, so you will notice some larger than others but you cannot miss how large they are compared to most even larger screened coffees.
Tasting Notes: Best at the lighter roast points, this cup is marked by a bit of sweet red fruit which can roast out of the beans if taken too dark. Light roasts are very clean and balanced with a good creamier mouthfeel and medium body, but overall we would call it a bit more delicate of a cup for the Pacamara lineup. Just a hint of a lemony citric note upfront fading into the sweet red fruit and pulling a little contrast with a rustic chocolate note, depending how light you go you can see a little nuttiness in the aftertaste. Medium to borderline dark roasts produce a very smooth and rich cup, mainly chocolate like but some interesting spice notes will pop out a bit, sweet but a little more plain tasting, hints of fruit as the cup cools but not that noticeable when hot. Darker roasts can get a little bitter edge and hide the fruitiness, but will pull a unique and complex slightly boozy quality in the aftertaste, a kind of “barrel aged” quality that we found appealing.
Roasting Notes: High chaff and slightly uneven roasting. Wonderful beans processed to perfection, seeing and hearing first crack should not be a problem, if nothing else, the higher amounts of chaff coming off is a great sign of first crack. At least 24 hours setup is recommended, with the already heavier citric/floral/fruit tones in the cup, can come off a bit soury for the first couple of days. Takes a longer setup, 5-7 days to reach its peak flavors.
Keith Pech has become a good friend over the last couple of seasons. He has some family in the U.P. (Michigan) and passes by our warehouse from time to time when visiting his family. Keith is really on the cutting edge of Panamanian coffee.
He really hooked it up with some nice high-end Natural Processed Catuai and Typica from his farm, as well as playing our eyes and ears on the ground in Panama. His mom is actually part of the Ruiz family who we sourced a ton of awesome Panama coffees from in years past.
Turns out Keith is buddies with all the other Panama operations we have dealt with in the past as well. Elida, HI-U, Esmeralda, Mama Cata, Nuguo, Ruiz. Quite the guy to have befriended, with being able to piggyback on his containers, we now have easy access to the best of the best. Not only that, but with Keith playing nice and being very well-liked by these other farmers, we were able to snag top lots from the best farms in Panama, primo beans that normally never make it to the US. Nothing else on the block like these offerings!
Anthony Guisasola (verified owner) –
This is fantastic coffee. This is what coffee from Panama should taste like. Great fruit citrus but also chocolate. Great body and exceptionally clean finish.