Costa Rica

La Isla

Ripe and fresh SL28

Luis Jimenez’ farm La Isla has placed highly in the Cup of Excellence several times, always with the SL28 varietal.

Luis Jimenez is a third generation coffee producer, and credits his grandmother and grandfather for his success.

Producer
Luis Jimenez
Coffee expression
A fruity & balanced coffee

Regular price: $28.00
incl. vat/tax
Sale price: $28.00
incl. vat/tax
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The SL28 varietal character is showcased here, with bright acidity and a rich sweetness.

SL28

La Isla

Luis Jimenez has only owned La Isla since 2017, but his history in coffee runs much deeper than that. His grandfather Raúl starting farming coffee in the 1930’s, and his grandmother Angela was brought up on a coffee farm. Angela and Raul raised eleven children, six of which still work on coffee farms today, and continue to pass on their learnings to their children and grandchildren, like Luis. When Luis found this plot of land, he saw the opportunity to use all of this knowledge to produce some of the best coffees in the country. La Isla is located just outside the village of Lourdes in the West Valley, and named for the mountain it’s located on, known locally as ‘The Island’. The fertile volcanic soils here lead to well-nourished cherries, grown at high altitude where Luis deemed the conditions to be perfect for quality lots. He started his experimentation immediately, planting small lots with exotic varietals like SL28 and Geisha. Luis only processes honey coffees for now, and has aimed to perfect the balance between primary terroir and varietal flavours and secondary process-driven flavours. This pursuit culminated in his placing in the Cup of Excellence with Honey SL28 lots, coming 10th in both 2020 and 2021.

Luis’ SL28 lots are truly excellent, possessing an incredibly high quality of acidity, reminiscent of fresh citrus. This also carries into the aroma, while everything is underpinned by the deep sweetness that Costa Rican honey coffees often offer, here giving an almost toffee-like note in the cup.

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.

2022 marks the ninth year we have worked with our Costa Rican export partners at Exclusive Coffees, and the producers they have connected us with just keep on delivering excellent and transparent coffee experiences.

Technical Data

Producer
Luis Jimenez
Region
West Valley
Altitude
1600 masl
Varietal
SL28
Process
Honey
Harvest
March 2022

Honey Process

With the honey process a certain amount of mucilage and pulp are allowed to remain on the coffee bean during depulping. The cover will stay with the bean during fermentation and drying thereby contributing to the sugars absorbed by the bean and affecting the flavour notes of the final cup. The amount of mucilage remaining defines the type of honey process - white, yellow, red or black in ascending order of mucilage concentration. If they are processed properly, the coffees can take on quite a lot of sweetness and flavours while remaining clean.

Raised drying beds (sometimes referred to as African drying beds) are often preferable when working with honey processed coffees, because of the additional airflow they allow. The air ensures that the beans dry evenly and reduces the incidence of fungi and bacteria formation. On the other hand, some farmers are accustomed to using sun-exposed patio drying that require a regular raking of beans to avoid moulds. While total fermentation and drying time depend on such choices as well as ambient temperature and moisture levels, red honey processing easily needs two weeks from depulping until drying has completed.