PANAMA ELIDA NATURAL #1208

Elida Estate is a fourth-generation coffee farm, founded back in 1918 by the Lamastus family. They came all the way to Panama from Kentucky, and chose an amazing place to begin a coffee farm—high on the slopes of the Baru Volcano. With growing altitudes ranging up to 2500 meters, Elida is the highest-elevation coffee farm in all of Panama! Here, sky-high coffee plants flourish in a natural paradise, flanked by the Volcan Baru National Park within a pristine, cloudy rainforest biome. Elida coffees are shade-grown, without pesticides or herbicides, and hand-picked and hand-processed: a reliable recipe for success. Earning multiple awards every year from the Best of Panama competition, coffees from Elida are widely regarded as some of Panama's very best beans—Elida Estate is *the* taste of specialty coffee from Panama. I was thrilled that our new partner Dragonfly has a close, direct-trade relationship with the Elida farm, and I jumped at the opportunity to reserve a batch for Bean Box customers.

Dragonfly Coffee Roasters, 2019's Micro-Roaster of the Year, is a small-batch roaster based in the Mojave Desert of Henderson, Nevada. Founder Tamas Christman grew up on an isolated wolf sanctuary (yes, really!). One of the volunteers, a true coffee lover, brought his own Kona beans into the wilderness and taught Tamas how to roast them in a cast-iron pan over the fire. Tamas remembers the convivial influence of those beans, the aromas and flavors that brought everyone together. Years later, after earning a degree in chemical engineering, Tamas felt himself drawn back to the world of coffee, and started Dragonfly in 2011. Today, Tamas's conservationist roots inform their business practices, including eco-friendly roasting, generosity to their employees and the community, and direct-trade relationships with prominent, sustainable coffee farms like Elida Estate.

With notes of sweet pineapple, wild blueberry, and rich chocolate, this "top" coffee from Panama is hard to beat—and even harder to put down! Roasters compete for these types of coffees from Elida Estate, and with one sip, you'll understand the hype. Reserve your own bag of Dragonfly's Panama Elida Natural, an amazing micro-lot that sits at the very pinnacle of Panamanian specialty coffee. And hey, if you want to wear your Panama hat while you drink it, we won't say a word...