Costa Rica Coffee of the Month
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Varietal – Catuai
Preparation – White Honey
Location – south of San Marcos, Tarrazu
Altitude – 1300-2000 masl
Importer - Horsham Coffee Roaster
We have been working directly with coffee produces in Costa Rica for several years including the Montero family. Costa Rica is famous for producing a fantastic range of coffees specifically focusing on varietal seperation and alternative processing like naturals and various types of honey process.
This coffee comes from La Pastora, one of the farms owned by the Montero family and is located at 2000masl making it one of the highest farms in Costa Rica. The picture below was taken at sunset and shows the incredible view from the La Pastora farm.
The coffee is hand harvested during the day and transported down to the mill in the evening and allowed to rest in a large tank over night. In the morning Jacob (Carlos son) takes care of the processing removing the fruit and a large amount of mucilage using a Penagos Eco Pulper:
After pulping the coffee is dried on raised tables. The white honey process in this case refers to the small amount of mucilage left on the coffee after processing. The Penagos Eco-pulper can be calibrated to remove a varying amount of fruit from the internal coffee bean and producers ofter refer to this difference as a colour. For example, white, yellow or red honey (although not all prouducers use this naming method and sometimes it's used to describe the colour of the coffee once dried.).
Jacob and Carlos process a large amount of their coffee as 'white honey' as they feel this process works very well to capture the incredible flavours of their high altitude grown Catuai varietal.
We are very fortunate to be able to work with Selva Coffee, a business owned by Marianela (Carlos daughter) and her husband Perry. They have helped us to develop these direct relationships with fantastic coffee producers in Costa Rica.
Tasting Notes:
This is a great example of a clean, well rounded honey processed coffee with just the right balance of fruit character and origin character of the Catuai varietal.