Introducing our single origin Christmas coffee - the Costa Rica La Karola Natural. With tasting notes including fig, dried fruits, and grape, once you take a sip of the La Karola, you'll undoubtedly be feeling the spirit of Christmas.
We are super excited to be sourcing our Costa Rican Tarrazu coffees directly. We source our Costa Rican coffees directly in partnership with Selva Coffee, a small exporter representing a select group of coffee producers that we visited in February 2020. These producers are located in the West Valley, Central Valley and Tarrazu region of Costa Rica. You can read more about our direct trade coffees in ourTransparency Report.
Farm Overview
This stunning natural comes from a small 1-hectare plot of land planted with red and yellow Catuai trees. The farm has been owned by the Mora family since 1960 and covers an area of 4 hectares in total split into different farm sections. Currently, the farm is being managed by Steven Mora. It's a family operation and his parents and sisters are also involved in the production of their coffee.
Steven and his sisters:
The 4-hectare farm is planted mainly with the Catuai varietal although they are experimenting with some other varietals in small amounts. They are very focused on working in harmony with nature and don't use any pesticides or herbicides on the farm. When we visited in February 2020 we were so impressed by the amount of wildlife in and around their farm and spotted many bird nests in the coffee trees which is always a great sign!
The view across the farm:
Harvesting and Processing:
We've selected a small micro lot harvest from a 1-hectare section of the farm known as 'La Karola'. They believe that this section of the farm produces the best quality cherry with high sugar content due to the unique microclimate on this particular side of the La Cruz mountains. Although they are not organic certified, no chemicals or pesticides are used on the farm.
This is the year they have produced their own micro-lot coffee on their farm. Previously they would deliver their cherry for processing at a local mill but the family decided that they would like to keep their coffees separate for full traceability
The coffee was harvested by hand and floated using a water-based system that removes defects.
Cherry was then laid out to dry on raised beds under a solar dryer, a type of open-sided greenhouse. This protects the coffee from harsh direct sunlight and keeps it dry just in case of rain. The drying process took 25 days and during daytime hours the coffee was turned every 45 minutes and any noticeable defects were removed by hand. Once dried the coffee was packed into large plastic bags and stored for 1 month before the fruit was removed.
Tasting Notes:
This is a great example of a clean, juicy, sweet natural processed coffee from Costa Rica. The drying process has helped to bring out amazing fruit notes without excessive fermentation. You can expect a lovelycaramel-like sweetness with notes of dried fruits that include fig, raisin and red grape.
Smells lovely and tastes even better. Fill your Christmas mug with this and you won't regret it!
J
Jeremy Long-Price
Great flavour
Very good quality coffee
G
Gheorghe Nicolae
The best Christmas coffee
a coffee that amplifies the magic of Christmas. Honestly, it's the best Christmas blend I've had so far. Thank you for the treat.
c
cheryl buck
Nice full flavour
I preferred this to the Ethiopian one delivered in same order ,but I prefer South American coffees it seems . Have reordered the Ethiopian for him as I’m still enjoying my San Juanillo
Iv been with Horsham Coffee Roaster
For some time now & have tried many of there beans & to be honest love them all, my go to coffee everyday is Workhorse & iv just tried these Brazil Fazenda Inhame is a fabulous very smooth coffee highly recommend
The coffee is always very good and the customer service is fantastic. I highly recommend this company. This Kenya option was very good, I will order again.
