This is where the fun begins and we start to experience and taste the finished coffee and chocolate products.
In Boquete, we built our own coffee testing laboratory right above the beneficio, on Finca Cuatro Caminos. This is where you will find our team of experts cupping and grading the coffee, not only to determine the high score and quality of the coffee but also to look for any defects so that we can improve our farming practices where needed.
Our team constantly samples micro-lots of different varietals from across our network of farms, processed in different ways, served in various brewing methods, to fully understand the flavor profiles and unique characteristics of every micro-lot we produce.
When it comes to chocolate, the factory is where the magic happens, and our team can test different roast profiles, conch times, percentages of cacao, etc., as we work daily to fine-tune our processes, improve our recipes and perfect our products.
Key to the consistent quality of chocolate is the equipment used. In our factories in Panama and Belize, we invested heavily in state-of-the-art processing equipment from Selmi in Italy. In each location, we can roast, crack and winnow, grind, conch, and temper to turn our raw cacao beans into silky smooth chocolate.
We have plans to add a larger factory location in 2022 to manufacture, store, and ship container loads of chocolate from Panama and Belize to the world.