Costa Rica La Candelillas Natural

This one is a great story. This crop is all from one family, four amazing sisters who both grow the coffee and do the processing on their own coffee mill. They are in the Tarrazu region and call their farm "Candelillas" which means fireflies because of the great number of them on the farm.

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 natural 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 sweetness of cherry and strawberry. There are no off-tastes or fermented tastes or earthiness, which is always a danger when experimenting with dry processing.

It is not as fruity as an Ethiopia coffee, but it's definitely fruity enough to get your attention. You can mindlessly sip this and fail to notice how intense the flavors are. It really has a lot of sweetness and is enjoyable to drink with great flavor.

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 very nice choice for espresso.

US Arrival June 2023