Delicate and floral tea-like character in the cup

THE VARIETAL

Altos Typica

Altos del Abejonal sits at 1800 metres above sea level in the Tarrazu region, only 70 kilometres south of the Costa Rican capital San Jose. The Talamanca Sierra runs through the region, with peaks of above 3000 masl. The farm is also close to the regional capital of San Marcos, which sits at 1350 masl and is home to 9000 people, providing the hub to an area famous for its high quality coffee production. The volcanic soil and afternoon cloud cover in the region provides the perfect conditions for Mauricio to produce excellent coffees at Altos. Most Arabica varietals grown across the world are descended from the same small set of varietals taken out of Ethiopia and cultivated in Yemen in the 1600’s. This creates somewhat of a genetic ‘bottleneck’ for coffee, coming from incredibly diverse within Ethiopia, to almost 98% of coffee production in Latin America comprising of plants descended from just two varieties, Bourbon and Typica. These were the first ever cultivated coffee varietals, isolated from wild growing coffee in Ethiopia, and slowly used to populate the coffee growing lands of Yemen, India, and then the New World as it was colonised by Europeans. Typica took a slightly protracted route, being introduced to India in the famous story of Baba Budan, and from there being cultivated in Indonesia for a time. From this stock in Indonesia, a single plant was taken by Dutch settlers back to Amsterdam, and it is from this single tree that all modern Typica was introduced to Latin America. This is the fourth year we have purchased a honey-processed Typica from Mauricio’s farm, and we are again very happy with the quality. The floral complexity of the Typica varietal is present here, along with some soft fruit notes that we so enjoy in other coffees from Altos, and the classic Tarrazu hazelnut notes.