Dominican Republic Red Honey

Dominican Republic grows a lot of coffee, but they drink most of it. Only 20% of the crop is exported.

Their coffee does not have high demand in the USA. Even the higher grade lots tend to be fairly inexpensive, with very mild, mellow flavor, little to no acidity, and a clean aftertaste. This one caught our attention because it's a Red Honey process, making it sweeter and more complex than your average coffee.

We roast it about like a Honduras honey coffee. Definitely keep it light since it's a honey process coffee, but it cracks later than you would expect and so it needs a little bit of a longer roast/higher temperature than you would maybe think. Don't let it out while it's still cracking or it will taste underdeveloped. It loves air roasters, but if you have a drum roaster just make sure you give it lots of airflow. When we don't give it enough air flow the outside gets overdone even though the inside of the bean is underdone. As with most honey processed coffees, it isn't particularly complex, but it is sweet and pleasant and easy to drink.

I do like it as espresso as you approach the second cracks (but not all the way to them). It has a little bit of bitterness at this roast level, but you can kind of call it caramel, and it has a lot of crema and sweetness since it's a honey process. Not terribly complex, but smooth and sweet, you could drink a lot of these shots or blend a little bit of something fruity in with it to make it more complex.

US Arrival July 2023