In 2019, Hilary Clark and husband Tamas Christmas, co-owners of Dragonfly Coffee Roasters (based in Boulder, Colorado), would take home the prestigious title of “2019 Roaster of the Year” by “Roast” magazine.
In addition, being listed in “Forbes” list of “12 Best Coffee Roasters in the United States”.
The couple began their business in 2011 and prided itself on sourcing many coffee directly from farmers and producer organizations as possible.
While a small roasting company, believing in paying the top dollar for some of the world’s highest quality or unique green coffees.
In 2017, their roasted coffee from Yemen earned the top spot on CoffeeReview’s “Top 30 Coffees in 2017” and consistently producing high rated coffee since then.
Christman was a chemical engineer with a computer science background said in an interview, “Exposure to exceptional coffee leads to a higher level of consumer appreciation”.
And with his background as a chemical engineer, Christman said, “Coffee undergoes a chemical reaction while being roasted. The way you drive that reaction will affect aromas and taste. You have to understand the bean, which may have different levels of water content”.
The couple provide their customers an experience of the trade partnerships he has with coffee growers and also educating those who want to know about the different cultivars, responsible ways of growing and harvesting to be able to produce high quality coffee beans.
In fact, Dragonfly Coffee Roasters has a roastery tasting room, so coffee lovers can experience rare and unique offerings.
For today’s coffee review, I am trying their Panima Elida Estates Coffee – Catuai Natural .
Now when it comes to coffee, Elida Estate coffees are produced under what is a unique world-ecological condition and that condition is that the coffee is shade-grown, bird-friendly and the farm is located at a very high elevation, where the microclimate has very lowe temperatures and the coffee trees are surround by the Volcan Baru National Park, a virgin native cloud rainforest.
According to Dragonfly Coffee Roasters:
A sweetly tart pineapple acidity is enveloped by notes of blueberry, whiskey-toned oak and spice; carried through with a long milk chocolate toned finish and resonant lavender-like mouth feel. This is a Dragonfly original, and favorite!
World renowned Lamastus Family Estates!
Now remember this family name when it comes to coffee from Panama….Lamastus.
The Lamastus family has been producing coffee in Elida Estate for four generations since 1918.
Known for high quality coffee, Lamastus Family produces three estate coffees at three different farms located in Boquete, Panama. Those estates are El Burro Estate, Luito Geisha Estates and Elida Estate. While all estate coffees are located in the highest area of the country in steep hills in the skirt of one of the highest volcanoes in Central America, the Baru Volcano, the highest coffee farm in terms of how high is the Elida Estate coffee farm which is located between 5,500 and 82,000 ft. above sea level.
So far, my thoughts on coffee beans which I have tried, I noticed that my love for coffee are typically of coffee beans grown at higher elevations, especially on volcanic soil.
Which leads me to my review of the Dragonfly Coffee Roasters Panama Elida Estate’s Catuai Natural Coffee which received a 94 rating in 2014 and 95 rating in 2020 by CoffeeReview.com.
The first thing you will notice while drinking the coffee is how sweet and complex the coffee is. The taste of citrus is noticeable.
Dragonfly Coffee Roasters obtains these coffee beans from the Lamastus Family uses a natural process and utilizes a Catuai cultivar and is light roasted with notes of pineapple and blueberry. The coffee is sweet/tarty and the finishing tone is no doubt milk chocolate but also a spice-like finish.
While the spice makes it perfect as we near the holidays, unlike pumpkin spice (which is a taste I like with tea, but not so much with coffee), this is something I can drink all year round.
It’s important to note that it’s important to keep checking on the site to find out when the new harvest will be available.
But overall, I feel this is wonderful coffee from one of the world’s best coffee roasters based in the United States.
Dragonfly Coffee Roasters Panama Elida Estate’s Catuai Natural Coffee is highly recommended!
