Costa Rica Tarrazu Yellow Honey

COUNTRY: Costa Rica
Even though this little country can fit into Alberta more than 10 times, its reputation for producing amazing coffee far exceeds its borders! Costa Rican coffee has set the standards for fine wet-processed coffee for the rest of Central and South America. The nation has eight coffee growing regions, the most famous being Tarrazu.

REGION: Tarrazu
This region is located in the interior mountains of Costa Rica, and is known for producing relatively heavy bodied coffees with complex aromas. The area is lush with vegetations, and is split into two well defined seasons of rainy and dry. This well-defined climate pattern is ideal for growing coffee and produces high quality cherries that are uniform in ripeness. Altitude in this region ranges from 1,200 – 1,900 meters.

FARM: Finca La Pastora
This farm is located in the southernmost production zone of Tarrazu. In 2011, Minor Esquival Picado built his own wet mill and named it Micro Beneficio La Pastora. Cherries on the estate are only picked when they are almost a purple color, and at their absolute sweetest. From here they are processed in a variety of styles including yellow honey, red honey, black honey, and natural.

PRODUCER: Minor Esquival Picado
Along with his wife, brother, daughter and son in law, Minor farms and mills all his coffee at Finca La Pastora. With a desire to avoid becoming stagnant, Minor has been trying out new processes for his coffee, including using anaerobic fermentation, by fermenting beans in an environment absent of oxygen.  

PROCESS: Yellow Honey
ALTITUDE: 1,780 MASL
VARIETALS: Caturra
CUPPING SCORE: 86.5
CUPPING NOTES:
Flavor: Citrus, Dark Chocolate, Cherry, Honey, Nuts.
Acidity: Citrusy, bright
Body: Syrupy