Keith Pech is the founder of Balboa Coffee Merchants. He grew up in the United States, however as part of the Ruiz family from Boquete, he spent much of his childhood in the family's coffee farms, mills and roastery in Panama. After graduating college in the US, he moved to Panama for several years developing the Pech family farm, Damarli Estate, with his father David.

In order to sell Damarli Estate coffees in the US, he began to bring and store coffees in warehouses in New Jersey and California. Keith realized that there was more potential for Panama coffee in the US and started to offer other producers as well. Balboa Coffee Merchants was created to formalize the trade of Panama coffees.

Coming from a fully integrated coffee family, Keith is very familiar with the growing, processing and dry milling necessary for high quality coffees. Keith was a national judge in the Best of Panama in 2017 and was a certified Q Arabica Grader from 2016-2019.