Costa Rica Yellow Honey Helsar de Zarcero

The Helsar de Zarcero mill represents the efforts of Ricardo Perez Barrantes, whose farms and mill are on a high ridge in the area of Alajuela, in the coffee areas of both Zarcero and Naranjo. This area is renowned for coffee production, but not every farmer has the milling machinery to process coffee down to the green seed. Ricardo saw a need for building one of his own, a small local mill where he could process his coffee, and that of his neighbors. He was one of the first in the region to build out a "micro mill", a term that would soon become synonymous with Costa Rican coffee. This might sound like an obvious move, but it was really revolutionary for Costa Rica, where large volumes had traditionally been the focus. Micro mills helped usher in the shift to producing smaller lots that represent single farms and local towns, rather than full container blends. This lot is a small blend of a few producers next to the Helsar mill. It's a mix of Caturra and Catuaí, grown between 1500 and 1750 meters above sea level. Helsar uses forced demucilage equipment to machine-wash their coffee, an efficient method with low environmental impact that has similar outcomes to traditional wet-fermentation processing.