Costa Rica Yellow Honey Sumava SL-28

It brings us great pleasure to feature this coffee from Sumava coffee farm for the first time. For one thing, it's an SL 28 variety, which is a unique Bourbon selection from Kenya known for pronounced acidity and sweetness. But perhaps more impantly, it's from a farm run by long term Costa Rican supplier, and friend, Francisco Mena. Francisco has been key to our Costa Rica sourcing, someone we've worked with for well over 15 years now. He reminded me (Dan), that Tom was one of his first clients when he started his company, Exclusive Coffees, in a small garage almost 20 years ago. The fact that our connection stretches back nearly two decades is not lost on us, and one we get sentimental about too! Francisco's volume capacity has grown to impressive proportions since those days, but his focus on sourcing high quality coffees has not wavered, nor has his commitment to developing longterm buying relationships between clients all over the world, and the producers he works with. Sumava is located in Costa Rica's West Valley region, within Lourdes de Naranjo. Francisco tells us the SL-28 is planted on a small plot he calls, "La Ladera", situated at 1700 meters above sea level. The outer fruit is pulped, but he leaves a thin layer of fruit mucilage intact during the 25-30 days it takes to dry the coffee on raised beds. We found this coffee to be syrupy sweet, with well-articulated acidity in the light roasts, and subtly complex aroma.