demurara sweetness, balanced core coffee flavors are accented by a twist of orange, apple, walnut and hints of both herbal and black teas
This is a separated lot from a single producer at the Helsar de Zarcero micromill. It is from the farm of the Manuel “Macho” Arce family. Manuel Arce goes by the name “Macho”: In Latin America, it is a nickname given to children with blonde hair, nothing to do with “tough guy!”
This coffee deserves it’s own spotlight, and the Helsar mill has been moving more towards offering separated farm lots rather than the blends of years past. Both are valid, as much of the quality of this coffee is due to the excellent processing methods at this mill and the manager, Ricardo Perez. Each year they make improvements, recently adding new dry milling equipment and warehouse space for improved storage of coffee in the resting phase (reposo). 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.
Coffee first grown in Costa Rica in Central Valley, around the capital city San Jose. It’s till the most populated in coffee growing in Costa Rica. The first farmers started moving west during the 19th century and brought coffee with them. After decades of development, the West Valley region is now becoming an independent region well recognised with its high quality speciality coffee grown. It divided into six sub-regions, centred around the cities of San Ramón, Palmares, Naranjo, Grecia, Sarchi and Atenas. The highest altitudes in the region are found around Naranjo, and this is where this coffee coming from.
The ground coffee smells like dark sugar with slight bittering tones, traces of herbal tea too. Sugary-sweet aspects are bolstered with the addition of hot water, and a toffee smell highlights the steam, along with a mix of candied nut. Raw sugar sweetness has a flavor of demurara and builds as the cup temperature dips. The balanced core flavors are accented by a twist of orange that fades to a nice citrus peel bittering quality. As you move through the cup, top notes include apple, and both herbal and black teas.
- Origin: Costa Rica
- Region: Naranjo, West Valley
- Farm: Manuel Macho Arce
- Altitude: 1600m
- Cultivar: Caturra
- Grade: SHB EP
- Processing: Mechanically Washed
- Drying: Patio and Raised Bed Sun-Dried
- Sourcing: Sweet Maria’s