Producer Wilford Lamastus created this lot especially for Klatch Coffee, giving the whole Klatch team and all coffee lovers something to be excited about. The Elida Natural offers pure flavors of light rum with touches of fruit; strawberry, blueberry, blackberry and tones of orange and chocolate. A great body, sweet acidity and well balance. Ken Davids of Coffee Review previously scored Klatch Elida Natural 93 points.
More than half of this farm is located in the Volcan Baru National Park, a protected ecological reserve and sanctuary for exotic plants, birds and mammals such as the tropical tiger. The Baru volcano is one of the highest volcanoes in Central America and covers 7 different climate zones. The coffee is only grown up to 1,850 meters, the highest elevation to grow coffee in Panama.
There are several local conditions that set this coffee apart from others. The farm is located at a very high elevation, one of the two highest coffee farms in Panama. It is grown in rich, volcanic soil with a cool climate and a significant amount of fog and mist during the dry season. The coffee trees are surrounded by virgin-native cloudy rain forest, and because of the cool temperatures at night, it takes 2 to 3 years longer than the average coffee tree before these trees begin to produce. The low temperatures also contribute to an extended ripening time by 1 month, creating a more developed coffee bean.
93 Points scored by Ken Davids from Coffee Review (2012)
Blind Assessment: Impressively rich, deep, savory-sweet; dark chocolate, dusk flowers, honey, berry in aroma and cup. Comfortably backgrounded acidity; full, almost chewy mouthfeel. Chocolate in particular carries into a long, resonant finish.
Notes: This is a dry-processed or "natural" coffee, meaning the beans were dried inside the fruit rather than after the fruit has been removed, as is the case with wet-processed or "washed" coffees. The Lamastus family’s Elida Estate averages the highest growing elevations in Panama: 5,500 to 8,200 feet (1,700 to 2,500 meters). Clatch coffee is an award-winning small-batch roasting company in the Los Angeles area whose resident barista and trainer, Heather Perry, won both the 2003 and 2007 United States Barista Championships brewing a Clatch coffee espresso blend. Visit www.klatchroasting.com or call 877-455-2824 for more information.
Who Should Drink It: The style of coffee we used to call “after-dinner” coffee, meaning a rich, full-bodied, deeply complex coffee with acidity pushed to the background.
