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Keith Pech, the author (pictured right), what they were looking for. However, I would say that
and his father David Pech (pictured left) even though I did not get the sale I always benefitted
from the conversations we had. As Brandon traveled a
lot to other origins, I would get his firsthand knowledge
on new ideas and different people in the industry. This
is where I first heard of Lucia Solis, who is now well
known for consulting on yeast and its use in coffee
processing. This encounter and learning more about
the industry particularly about Lucia Solis and the
application of yeast in coffee processing to enhance
flavor and reduce risk of defects was pivotal to our
journey to winning a Best of Panama award.

Knowledge on Call

One of the most important meetings I had didn’t
have a direct impact on Damarli Estate until years
later. I was driving back to Cleveland, Ohio from
Atlanta, Georgia after attending the SCAA show in
2016. I had scheduled a tasting with Brandon Bir from
Crimson Cup in Columbus, Ohio whom I had met
years previous. Brandon was a big follower of all
things new and upcoming in the coffee industry, an
educator, and a true lover of great coffees. I had set
up a tasting of 8-12 coffees to taste with Brandon to I learned that the
see if any would interest him. It was a mix of Pana- specialty coffee industry
manian coffees from different producers with the
majority of them from Damarli Estate. is not merely a trans-
It was a great tasting and he picked out a few
that were his standouts. Unfortunately, at the time actional business.
he did not have a great channel to sell these coffees
as Crimson Cup was more in the wholesale business
and the price point of the coffees was a bit beyond

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