Costa Rica - Solis and Cordero Black Honey
Varietal – Various red fruit
Preparation – Black honey
Location – Santa Maria de Dota
Altitude – 1100+ masl
Importer - Horsham Coffee Roaster
This fantastic coffee comes from a micro mill located in Santa Maria de Dota owned by the Solis family. We visited the mill in December 2022 and have some wonderful photos to share below:
Visiting the Solis and Cordero Mill
Ivan Solis standing next to natural processed drying tables
Ivan Solis is a success story built on the foundation of the coffee-producing culture of the growing region, Tarrazu. Today, he is somewhat of a coffee magnate in the prestigious micro region of Santa Maria de Dota - he seems to know about all the farms and people comprising his beloved, small town. However, Ivan had to struggle and earn his way into the position he is in now from extremely humble beginnings. His hard work ethic, passion, experience, and vision have brought him to create the Santa Fe wet mill with his wife and 3 children.
Rather than focusing on growing and harvesting coffee Ivan and his family are post processing specialists. They purchase coffee cherry from local producers at high prices than the local co-operative will typically pay. They then focus on producing interesting micro lots using honey and natural processing.
Harvesting and Processing:
Their style is biased towards fruity, characterful coffees and they like to use post-harvest fermentation techniques to help to induce fruity, juicy flavours.
These Costa Rica coffee beans were processed as a black honey. After delivery, the coffee was fermented overnight and pulped to remove only a small amount of mucilage. The coffee was then dried on the concrete patios with a focus on slow drying to help to introduce more fruit character than is typically found in lighter honey-processed coffees.
Black honey processed Costa Rica coffee
Tasting Notes:
This is a rich, fruity, juicy honey processed coffee with tasting notes that including black cherry, prune and treacle.
Brewing:
This coffee works well for all brew methods.
Filter: Dose 15g, water 250g.
Espresso: Dose 17 gram to 40 gram yield over about 30 seconds.
This coffee is available as whole bean and pre-ground, but we recommend always grinding fresh before brewing. We sell a range of grinders if you would like to grind this coffee fresh at home.
