Costa Rica

Santa Rosa 1900

The fifth time we have purchased from Macho and Herberth Naranjo, with a unique 'represado' honey process.

‘The ‘Represado’ honey process brings an extra depth and richness to the typically clean and ripe Catuai.
Coffee expression
A fruity & balanced coffee
Whole Bean Coffee
250g (8.8oz) or 1000g (35.3oz)

Regular price: $20.00
incl. vat/tax
Sale price: $20.00
incl. vat/tax
Regular price: ~~$20.00~~
Unit price: per

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Producer
The Naranjo Family

Varietal
Catuai

Process
Represado Honey

The Santa Rosa 1900 mill is run by Efrain and Herberth Naranjo.

COSTA RICA

Santa Rosa 1900

This is the fifth time we have bought coffee from the Santa Rosa 1900 micro-mill, named for its location at 1900 masl in the mountainous Tarrazu region of Costa Rica. The mill is located only around 10 km from Altos del Abejonal, where we have worked with Mauricio Vindas for over 5 years. The mill processes coffee from several small farms owned by the Naranjo family, mainly tended to by Efrain ‘Macho’ and his son Herberth. This lot of Red Catuai is processed using a slightly strange method when compared to most of Costa Rica.

You may recognise the idea from some of the Guatemalan lots we have shared over the past few years. In Guatemala often small producers don’t have the resources to pick and process coffee on the same day, so coffee begins to ferment in cherry overnight. At Santa Rosa, they use this fermentation method by choice, and call it ‘represado’, which literally translates as ‘dammed’, like damming a river. After the pre-fermentation, where the cherries lie in plastic bags overnight, the coffee is depulped and dried as a honey with mucilage still attached. This adds a little more ferment character to the cup when compared to a standard honey, greater sweetness, and a soft and complex fruit character you may recognise from some of our Guatemalan lots. Alongside this focus on processing, Macho is always keen to point out on our visits that coffee quality starts on the tree, so he places great focus on soil health and maintaining a population of bees to pollinate his plants. You can see our first visit to Macho at the Santa Rosa mill in 2015 in our ‘Brightness’ film.

This is the fifth team we have purchased coffee from Efrain and Herberth.

Tarrazu

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. 2021 marks the eighth 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. This is now the second year we haven’t been able to visit Exclusive and our producer partners in the region. However after years of working together, and especially using experience from last year, we are confident we have still found our picks of the harvest through a constant exchange of zoom calls, emails and samples between San Jose and Copenhagen.

Technical Data

Producer
The Naranjo Family
Region
Tarrazu
Altitude
1900 masl
Varietal
Catuai
Process
Represado Honey
Harvest
March 2021

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.

Santa Rosa 1900

Santa Rosa 1900

Costa Rica

Technical Data

Honey Process

Brew Guides

Guides

Equipment