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Central America: Costa Rica
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Can a coffee be too perfect, too balanced, so all you can say about it is ," Hmm ... it has coffee flavor."' That's the criticism that used to be leveled at the coffees from Costa Rica - too balanced, too clean, too mild. We categorize this type of coffee as the "classic cup," the traditional balanced coffee that has no defects or taints. Coffee cuppers call it "clean" and it's not the same thing as "boring." Yet many Costa Ricas from the large farms and mills are exactly that; middle-of-the-road arabicas. But there's can be more to a Costa Rican coffee than neutrality. They are prized for their high notes: bright citrus or berry-like flavors in the acidity, with distinct nut-to-chocolate roasty flavors. For me, the main issue with Costa Rica had been the model of coffee production, big mills creating brands, not small farms with their own tree-to-bag processing. Since we are small and can handle small lots in a way that is not economical for a larger coffee company, we changed the way we sourced Costa Rican coffees in 2008 and had some spectacular micro-lot offerings. This new quality initiative is coming from Micro-Mills, tiny low-volume farm-specific coffee producers who now keep their lots separate, mill it themselves, gaining total control of the process, and tuning it to yield the best possible flavors (and the best price!) This revolution in processing is possible due to new environmentally friendly small milling equipment, and the disatisfaction of small producers who sell coffee at market prices, only to see it blended with average, carelessly harvested lots. With an independent Micro-Mill, a farmer can become a true "coffee craftsperson," maximize the cup quality of their coffee, dividing lots by elevation or cultivar, and receiving the highest prices for their Micro-Lot coffees. In turn, we get unique and diverse Micro-Lots, and a transparent, long-term relationship with the small farmer. Some call it Direct Trade, but we call it our Farm Gate coffee, where we can be assured of exactly what the farmer received. And in these cases they yield 40%-100%+ more than Fair Trade prices. The range of flavors that result from Costa Rican coffees has expanded without limit due to the new relationships we are forming, ranging from traditional wet-processed lots with vivid brightness, floral and clean fruit notes, to ... well, radically different dry-processed coffees in the style of Ethiopia Harar. And there is everything inbetween too, so please read our descriptions and enjoy the new diversity of flavors. It's a moment to rejoice: farmers paid well, their coffee elevated from obscurity in "pooled lots" and mill marks, the satisfaction we get from offering so many unique flavor profiles, and for the home roaster, stepping that much closer to the source, to a small farmer tuning their Penagos depulper just like you tune your home roast machine, both seeking to reveal the possibilites locked in the green coffee bean! -Tom
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Costa Rica El Puente Tarrazu Caturra
Beneficio Ecologico Puente Tarrazu is a coop mill owned by 6 farmers, among them Rodolfo Rivera who produced this lot on his plot called La Cuesta. The farm is at 1600 meters in Leon Cortez district, adjacent to Tarrazu (and considered Tarrazu by many since these coffees are often sold to Tarrazu wet mills). Rudolfo placed in this years Costa Rica Cup of Excellence with a different Caturra wet-processed coffee ... he might have entered this lot but for the fact that I had already consigned it back in February! We shipped and stored it in our special GrainPro bags and now that we are tapping into this lot, I am very pleased with the cup. The dry fragrance has a honey graham cracker scent at light roast levels, with caramel and butter as well. In the wet aroma there is a fair amount of lemon and vanilla wafer; mild, sweet and balanced overall. The cup has character like a honey-process coffee (Miel) in terms of body, a slightly rustic honey-like sweetness, but bright notes of a wet-process coffee. My lightest note had a grainy sweet note, so I preferred the slightly darker City+ roast and Full City levels. I found the cup silky in mouthfeel, sweet, with glazed almond roast notes. Cocoa notes come to play at Full City roast and persist into the finish. There's a touch of almond skin bitterness in the finish that I find pleasant and bracing. It's a very nice cup, and considering that new crop Costa Rica coffees from higher elevation farms are not due until mid-April, it's great to have coffees that cup so vibrant and fresh during a time when, in past years, we had very few Central offerings.
This coffee is part of our direct trade Farm Gate pricing transparency program.
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This coffee is part of our direct trade Farm Gate pricing transparency program.
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Costa Rica El Puente Tarrazu Caturra
| $5.95 | $11.31 | $25.88 | $49.39 | $91.63 |
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El Puente Ecologico. Much of the coffee here is patio-dried. Rudolfo, Thompson, Roberto
Country:
Costa Rica
Grade:
SHB
Region:
Santa Cruz de Leon Coretz
Mark:
Rodolfo Rivera, La Cuesta Farm, Puente Ecologico
Processing:
Desmucilaginado (Wet-Process Style)
Crop:
July 2009 Arrival GrainPro Bags
Appearance:
.2 d/300gr, 17-18 Screen
Varietal:
100% Caturra
Intensity/Prime Attribute:
Medium intensity / Bright, balanced, silky mouthfeel
Roast:
City roast was a bit too light here; I recommend City+ to Full City for the sweetest flavor profile.
Compare to:
It cups more like a hybrid between a Miel coffee and a wet-process coffee: bright, yet with nice body.
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Costa Rica Gillio Francesa -Finca El Espino
Gillio Francesa Ferraro is a character. He has aristocratic airs, and a bit of impatience that goes with his advanced years. But in his daily work as coffee producer, benefactor of a children's camp for orphans, and mad inventor, he looks like a guy in a lab coat who just rolled out from under his '64 Willys Jeep, after fixing a CV Joint. His mill is Guadalupe and is farm is called El Espino, the Spine(!), because of how it is positioned along the mountain ridge, the spine of the hills. While he isn't the youngest among the Costa Rica small farmers who have embrace the Micro-Mill movement, he certainly keeps pace with them (he was the elder statesman on their whirlwind tour of coffee roasteries this past August). And his coffees are top notch as well, Caturra cultivar planted at 1800 meters in the West Valley area of Zarcero. They have an exotic Costa Rica character, with nut-to-chocolate roast taste and laced with ripe, clean fruited notes, and unique scents of eucalyptus, sage, and campfire. This coffee really stood out for me at a cupping we did in San Jose, Costa Rica last March. I found really sweet aromatics, balanced and very attractive, yet something quite wild and rustic about the cup. Whenever I face the unexpected and unusual flavors, I ask myself the 2 basic questions about coffee: Is it clean? Is it sweet? To both I would answer yes to El Espino, and so I heartily endorse this lot. Keeping the roast around City+, there is an almondy nut aromatic, sage-like floral scent, mint, a mild foresty note. I think I prefer a darker roast though. Full City to Full City+ lent itself to great milk chocolate flavors, intensity, body. Darker roasts have a sweet molasses note on the break. The cup has a very caramelly sweetness, with milk chocolate accent throughout the roast range. It's heavily fruited with pear, apple and some banana (and a slight banana skin dryness in the finish). There are herbal flavors, a bit of lavender flower, and a very dense, almost gritty body, which highlights it's rather powerful demeanor overall. There is a more rounded, less prickly or acidic character that one might expect from coffee grown at such high altitudes as El Espino.
This coffee is part of our direct trade Farm Gate pricing transparency program.
View Cupping Scores
This coffee is part of our direct trade Farm Gate pricing transparency program.
View Cupping Scores
Costa Rica Gillio Francesa -Finca El Espino
| $6.05 | $11.50 | $26.32 | $50.22 | $93.17 |
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Gillio's crazy vintage Willys jeep, a rather dangerous vehicle by any standard!
Country:
Costa Rica
Grade:
SHB
Region:
Zarcero, West Valley
Mark:
Gillio Francesa Ferraro. Finca El Espino
Processing:
Wet-Process
Crop:
July 2009 Arrival (GrainPro)
Appearance:
.2 d/300gr, 17-18 Screen
Varietal:
Caturra
Intensity/Prime Attribute:
Medium-Bold intensity / Caramel and chocolate roast notes, dense, gritty mouthfeel, multiple fruits, herbal, dry finish.
Roast:
Full City to Full City+ roast. I think Full City is ideal here. This coffee can take a little more roast, and it suits the rustic aspect and full body of this particular cup.
Compare to:
A non-traditional Costa Rica coffee, one of the more rustic takes on Miel coffee that we have in stock, along with the Sin Limites.
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Costa Rica Helsar "Villa Sarchi Solis"
This is a microlot from one of the Beneficio Helsar producers, Roger Solis, grown on his farm at 1600-1700 meters in Llano Bonito de Naranjo. It is 100% Villa Sarchi cultivar, which is a natural offspring of Bourbon. So in the above name, Helsar de Zarcero is the mill mark, Solis is the farmer, and Villa Sarchi is the cultivar. (Interestingly, the Typica in the area is a unique type, often referred to as Typica Villalobos, which comes from farms of the Rodrigues Villalobos clan, or so he stated to me when I was at their mill in February!) Helsar is an excellent MicroMill and dry most of their top grade coffees on raised beds/screens in a covered tent (to increase heat and prevent rain damage). It's a bright cup, but has nice body and balance, especially at Full City to Full City+ roast levels. This might be partly due to the relation of Villa Sarchi to the Bourbon cultivar, the classic type known for balanced cup character. I believe the Villa Sarchi influence is a more balanced flavor profile, but with well-defined acidity. The dry fragrance has a lot of milk chocolate and raisin sweetness, and in the wet aromatics, fresh-baked sweet brown bread with a little bit of roasted hazelnut. The cup follows suit, balanced, in body and brightness at darker roast levels. There are grace notes of peach tea, a little lemon rind, and pear. It has the same dry-roasted nut tone, more almondy than hazelnut, fading to tangy and crisp chocolate flavor in the finish. It changes quite a bit as the temperature drops, and peach tea flavors come out. The body isn't that heavy, but has a syrupy quality. My lightest roasts, City level, tasted fairly thin and a bit grainy. I suggest City+ to Full City+, the latter having more balance. There is a striking zest of brightness here that can stand up to slightly darker roast levels.
This coffee is part of our direct trade Farm Gate pricing transparency program.
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This coffee is part of our direct trade Farm Gate pricing transparency program.
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Costa Rica Helsar "Villa Sarchi Solis"
| $6.00 | $11.40 | $26.10 | $49.80 | $92.40 |
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Leaves of the Villa Sarchi cultivar, in Llano Bonito de Naranjo, Costa Rica.
Country:
Costa Rica
Grade:
SHB
Region:
Llano Bonito of Naranjo, West Valley
Mark:
"Llano Bonito" Helsar de Zarcero
Processing:
Wet process
Crop:
July 2009 Arrival (GrainPro Bags)
Appearance:
.2 d/300gr, 17-18 Screen
Varietal:
100% Villa Sarchi
Intensity/Prime Attribute:
Mild-Medium intensity / Great balance, with peach tea notes as it cools
Compare to:
A balanced, single-cultivar lot.
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Costa Rica Herbazu Red Honey
Herbazu is a well-known farm in the West Valley region, Naranjo Zarcero area, next door to the Sin Limites farm. They grow a type of Villa Sarchi cultivar that they have used for so long, it has become their own mutation in a way. It's quite a short plant (Villa Sarchi is a dwarf mutation of Bourbon, as is Caturra). This was one of our favorite Costa Rica lots from last year, and is an interesting contrast to the fully washed (traditional wet-process) Herbazu lot we offer. It has all the vivid bright notes and clean cup character but with a more rustic set of flavors overall. Red Honey means this is a pulp natural lot where 80% of the fruity mucilage from the coffee cherry is left on the parchment. This is a high percentage of fruit, compared to a yellow-colored honey parchment where 50% is removed. The result is that it dries to a rich red color when the coffee is in "pergamino", with the exterior parchment shell intact. What this means for the cup is milder acidic brightness, and a lot of body. We also found this processing on a great, bright Costa Rica coffee makes for a very exciting SO espresso shot, with a heightened sense of density to the mouthfeel, and a balance to the bright notes in the cup.
Be prepared for an unconventional Central flavor profile! The dry fragrance has a unique savory sweetness, sweet toasted grains in the light roast and an emerging milk chocolate a bit darker. The wet aroma has hints of winey fruit, slight citrus accents, and balance bittersweet scents. The cup is dynamic and bright, yet also very balanced with a thick body far above the norm for Costa Rica coffees. The mildly rustic flavors in the cup, herbs, sweet fresh-mown grass or hay, might throw you off. It's definitely a flavor profile that takes some time to ponder, but in the end this is a sweet cup that is a joy to drink! There is a honeysuckle floral element, lemon tea zest in the lighter roast, turning to a caramel malt at FC roast. It's a fantastic espresso, especially if you can pull shots at 8.5 bars of pressure, a bit low, where a lot of SO espresso does better in my opinion. As it cools, a praline-toffee sweetness comes out, with a rustic suggestion which reveals the fact it's a hybrid process, between wet-type and full natural coffees.
This coffee is part of our direct trade Farm Gate pricing transparency program.
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Be prepared for an unconventional Central flavor profile! The dry fragrance has a unique savory sweetness, sweet toasted grains in the light roast and an emerging milk chocolate a bit darker. The wet aroma has hints of winey fruit, slight citrus accents, and balance bittersweet scents. The cup is dynamic and bright, yet also very balanced with a thick body far above the norm for Costa Rica coffees. The mildly rustic flavors in the cup, herbs, sweet fresh-mown grass or hay, might throw you off. It's definitely a flavor profile that takes some time to ponder, but in the end this is a sweet cup that is a joy to drink! There is a honeysuckle floral element, lemon tea zest in the lighter roast, turning to a caramel malt at FC roast. It's a fantastic espresso, especially if you can pull shots at 8.5 bars of pressure, a bit low, where a lot of SO espresso does better in my opinion. As it cools, a praline-toffee sweetness comes out, with a rustic suggestion which reveals the fact it's a hybrid process, between wet-type and full natural coffees.
This coffee is part of our direct trade Farm Gate pricing transparency program.
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Costa Rica Herbazu Red Honey
| $6.40 | $12.16 | $27.84 | Limit 5 pounds |
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A lovely picture of the heart of Herbazu, the Barrantes brothers coffee pulper!
Country:
Costa Rica
Grade:
SHB
Region:
West Valley
Mark:
Herbazu Estate
Processing:
Pulp Natural Process
Crop:
August 2009 Arrival (GrainPro bag)
Appearance:
.2 d/300gr, 17-18 Screen
Varietal:
Villa Sarchi
Intensity/Prime Attribute:
Medium intensity / Great body, balance, complex as it cools
Roast:
Very light roasts can have a sweet hay character some might find pleasant, others not. City+ to Full City+ is ideal. In any case, this is not a conventional Central coffee, and does not cup like one!
Compare to:
Unusual combination of brightness and body for a Costa Rica coffee.
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Archived Reviews
To view reviews for out of stock coffees, visit our Costa Rica Coffee Archives.
2005-2006 | 2004 -2003 | 2001-2002 | Pre-2000 Tom's Sample Cupping Log | Moisture Content Readings This page is authored
by Thompson Owen and Sweet Maria's Coffee, Inc. and is not to be
copied or reproduced without permission
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