OUR OFFERINGS - EL MACHETE, PANAMA

Region: Santa Clara
Altitude: 1400-1500 m
Varietals: Typica, caturra, catuai
Harvest: December - February

Characteristics

Flavor: Berry, maple
Acidity: Juicy, citric
Finish Floral, cocoa

Tasting Notes

El Machete bursts forth with notes of berry and candied maple without hesitation. Its body is round, buttery and smooth, complementing the acidity of sweet citrus fruits. The finish champions the juiciness of its acidity as cocoa notes surface in the finish in tandem with immensely tantalizing floral notes.

K.C.'s Notes

Juan Pablo Berrard (owner), Jose (Mill worker) and Maria Luisa Berrad (daughter) in Finca Santa Teresa’s cupping lab.

Finca Santa Teresa rests on the skirts of the El Parque Internacional La Amistad International Reserve, which crosses the Panamanian and Costa Rican border. The farm’s steep, protruding ridge invite dramatic weather changes with surging drainage from rains off the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. This unique micro-climate creates uniformly plump coffee cherries, which make selecting by hand a breeze. This climate also results in a very sweet cup.

When planting Finca Santa Teresa, Juan Pablo Berard, the farm’s owner, parceled the land by varietal. This care, combined with an innovative storage system, allows Juan Pablo to track each micro-lot from the tree to its final packaging for international shipment.

The high priority given to environmental and social sustainability is evident at Finca Santa Teresa. To prevent erosion, each parcel of land contains live barriers and drainage channels. Juan Pablo has also preserved 25 hectares of virgin forest, providing habitat for animals en route to and from the international reserve.

On the social front, Finca Santa Teresa has joined with the NGO, Casa Esperanza, to ensure an education for farm-workers’ children. While Juan Pablo constructed the school house, Casa Esperanza provides two teachers and supplies educational materials and meals. This allows the families to stay together and keeps Finca Santa Teresa absolutely free of child labor.

Last year Juan Pablo installed more than 500 meters of PVC tubing to be used as a gravity-feed cherry-delivery system. This reduces the distance that pickers must carry cherries by half. It also eliminates the need for daily truck runs up and down the farm, thereby reducing the bruising of cherries in transit. Another notable step in the farm’s development was the construction of their own dry mill, which means they control the processing of their coffee from picking to export.

We are thrilled to be working with this innovative farm, and look forward to sharing their delicious coffee with you.

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