Costa Rica Tarrazu Coffee - Coffee of the month

September 27, 2020

Costa Rica Tarrazu Coffee - La Karola Coffee of the month

Varietal – Red and Yellow Catuai
Preparation – Natural
Location – San Pedro, Tarrazu
Altitude – 1500-1900 masl
Importer - Horsham Coffee Roaster

We are super excited to be sourcing our Costa Rican Tarrazu coffees directly. We source our Costa Rican coffees directly in partnership with Selva Coffee, a small exporter representing a select group of coffee producers that we visited in February 2020. These producers are location in the West Valley, Central Valley and Tarrazu region of Costa Rica. This is now the second year that we have bought coffee from La Karola. You can read more about our direct trade coffees in our Transparency Report.

Farm Overview

This stunning natural comes from a small 1 hectare plot of land planted with red and yellow Catuai trees. The farm is owned by the Mora family and covers an area of 4 hectares in total split into different farm sections. The farm has been owned by the family since 1960 and is now managed to Steven Mora. It's a family operation and his parents and sisters are also involved in the production of their coffee.

Stephen and his sisters:

The 4 hectare farm is planted mainly with the Catuai varietal although they are experimenting with some other varietals in small amounts. They are very focused on working in harmony with nature and don't use any pesticides or herbicides on the farm. When we visited in February we were so impressed by the amount of wildlife in and around their farm and spotted many bird nests in the coffee trees which is always a great sign!

The view across the farm:

Harvesting and Processing:

We've selected a small microlot harvest from a 1 hectare section of the farm know as 'La Karola'. They believe that this section of the farm produces the best quality cherry with high sugar content due to the unique microclimate on this particular side of the La Cruz mountains. Although they are not organic certified no chemicals or pesticides are used on the farm.

This is the year they have produced their own microlot coffee on their farm. Previously they would delivery their cherry for processing at a local mill but the family decided that they would like to keep their coffees seperate for full traceability

The coffee was harvested by hand and floated using a water based system that removes defects.

Cherry was then laid out to dry on raised beds under a solar dryer, a type of open sided greenhouse. This protects the coffee from harsh direct sunlight and keeps it dry just in case of rain. The drying process took 25 days and during daytime hours the coffee was turned every 45 minutes and any noticeable defects were removed by hand. Once dried the coffee was packed into large platics bags and stored for 1 month before the fruit was removed.

Tasting Notes:

This is a great example of a clean, juicy, sweet natural processed coffee from Costa Rica. The drying has been done to minimize intesnse fermentation resulting is a very clean tasting natural. You can expect a lovely caramel like sweetness with notes of dried fruits that include fig, raisin and red grape.

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