sweet at a wide range of roasts, brown sugar and honey, marshmallow hint, walnut, apple, mouth refreshing acidity, and a sturdy bittersweet core.
This coffee is from the Bambito Estate, located near Volcan Baru in Chiquiri Province. Chiriqui is situated in the lush mountain highlands of Panama, along the Caldera river (aptly named “Caldera”, a type of volcano, and runs through Volcan Baru National Park). The elevation at Bambito Estate spans a range of 1600 to 1800 meters above sea level. Coffee plants benefit from the high altitude, slowing the cherry maturation, yielding denser coffee, which is conducive to higher perceived sweetness and acidity. The nutrient rich volcanic soil in the region also positively impacts the health of the coffee plants. Bambito is planted in a variety of coffee cultivars. This lot is a separation of Caturra and Catuai, but they are also growing smaller plots of Typica and Gesha too. When roasting this lot, we noticed a dark stripe in the crease of the bean, similar to what we see in honey process coffees. Bambito use a mechanical demucilager for wet processing and it’s possible that some of the fruit made it through that step as well as the soaking/agitation step that follows. That would explain the physical traits we’re seeing, and perhaps lead to some of the pulpy fruit flavors we taste too.
The dry fragrance touches on brown sugar and vanilla bean smells, along with a nice dried apple note. There’s a clean sweetness in the coffee smells, and the wet aromatics show mild characteristics of honey, and a fruit accent. Flavors notes of honey and brown sugar really resonate in the light and middle roasts, and lay stabilizing structure on for the rest of the cup profile. A marshmallow note accents the hot cup, and as it cools down, fruited hints of apple and apricot comes up a bit. The fruit flavors aren’t too intense and come off more like a clean honey processed coffee. Acidity is moderate, and has a mouth refreshing effect on the finish.
- Origin: Panama
- Region: Volcan, Chiriliqi
- Producer: Bambito Estate
- Altitude: 1600-1800m
- Cultivar: Caturra, Catuai
- Processing: mechanical washed
- Drying: Patio Sun-dried
- Grade: SHB
- Arrival: June 2021