ADVENT CALENDAR #3

Herbazu Natural

The third coffee in our Advent Calendar this year is the Herbazu Natural, which is a unique Kenyan varietal grown in Costa Rica by the innovative and highly skilled Zuñiga brothers.

We first visited the Herbazu mill in March 2015, during the same trip where we filmed our ‘Brightness’ movie. The name Herbazu comes from the family name of the brothers who own the farm, Los Hermanos Barrantes Zuñiga, and we are continually impressed by the quality of coffee and the dedication to their coffee production.

Producer
Zuñiga Brothers

Varietal
SL28

Process
Natural

"Stewed berry notes are backed up by a rich caramel sweetness and a creamy hazelnut finish."

#3 HERBAZU NATURAL

The Zuñiga brothers' SL28

During our first trip we were very impressed by the brothers’ dedication, and incredibly high levels of quality control and sorting. However, what also intrigued us was their experimentation with alternative varietals. We tasted a small lot of SL28 that had been produced at the farm, that to us, was the cleanest representation of the varietal that we had ever tasted grown outside Kenya. We have often found that SL28 lots don’t deliver on their promise of clean Kenya-like acidity and syrupy sweetness, but this ticked all of those boxes. That lot went on to win the 2015 Costa Rica Cup of Excellence, but due to the popularity and rarity of these lots, it took us several years to bring some Herbazu SL28 back to Denmark. Due to the notoriety of these SL28 lots, the Zuñiga brothers are slowly converting more of their approximately 45 hectares of land to grow SL28. The varietal requires specific conditions, so small trials are undertaken constantly to find the ideal spot on each miniature farm to plant. While still 80% Villa Sarchi, a very typical high quality Costa Rican varietal, SL28 now takes up 10% of the total area, with the remaining 10% made up of experimental plots of varietals such as Ethiopian heirloom, a Rwandan bourbon strain, Geisha and Typica. This year marks the fourth time we have managed to secure Herbazu’s crisp and juicy SL28, this time in both a washed and natural variant. This natural lot has an enhanced sweetness and depth compared with the washed, with the trademark blackcurrant notes softened and stewed, backed up by a rich caramel sweetness and a creamy hazelnut finish.

"Their SL28 lots have gained great popularity in recent years, due to their consistent high quality, and a 2015 Cup of Excellence win."

#3 A fruity & rich coffee

Costa Rica

We buy coffees from a long spine of Costa Rica, running through the country’s capital San Jose. This spine is famous for high quality coffee production the world over, resulting in high prices for farmers. One of the reasons for this is plentiful high altitude, the Talamanca Sierra runs through the region, with peaks of above 3000 masl. This spine is split into 3 regions, the West Valley and Central Valley to the north of San Jose, and Tarrazu to the south. In all of these areas, but especially in Tarrazu, agriculture and coffee growing is a main employer, vital to the economy. In fact, the population of Tarrazu is multiplied by three during harvest season, when workers flock to the region for the high wages paid to skilled pickers. The entire spine is mainly of volcanic origin, helping to provide fertile soils conducive to the production of consistently high scoring coffees, which we keep going back for.

Technical Data:

Producer: Zuñiga Brothers

Region: West Valley

Altitude: 1900 masl

Varietal: SL28

Process: Natural

Harvest: March 2021