Costa Rica Natural Don Miguel

Finca Don Miguel (named after the farmer's father), is a small estate in Tarrazu which has been growing coffee since 1980 but really is just a small family farm. This experiment of a natural processed coffee was limited to a microlot of 14 bags and is the first time the farm has sold anything besides washed process coffees. It is all from "Yellow Catuai" varietal which is a fruit that is yellow when its ripe instead of the typical red color, and is generally a highly regarded varietal of coffee.

It is uncommon to get a dry processed coffee like this out of Costa Rica, which usually only exports washed process beans and sometimes honey processed.

This coffee has really heavy body for a washed processed coffee, which is nice. It starts out with a fruity aroma, and the initial sip tastes like brown sugar and molasses, which quickly turns into cherry and watermelon. There are no off-tastes or fermented tastes or earthiness, which is always a danger when experimenting with dry processing.

We fully enjoy the coffee, but it is different. No one is going to mindlessly sip this and fail to notice how intense the flavrs are. It really stands off the table and makes you notice. Fortunately, the flavors it features are very nice. The sweetness, the sugar, the fruitiness -- it's perfect summertime flavors.

We are roasting this lightly and carefully. However, it gets a little bit longer of a roast than an Ethiopia. We give it about 20 extra seconds -- 4 extra degrees -- over a natural processed Ethiopian. Anything less than that has a raw taste that is strange and off-putting. Roasting this just into the 2nd cracks is a nice choice for espresso.