Costa Rica - El Manzanal

TASTING NOTES

Chocolate, lemon, floral

WHY WE LIKE IT

This coffee is sweet, fragrant, and fresh. It reminds us of a chocolatey citrus fruit, with soft floral notes and a slight complexity. It has a light body, with a silky mouthfeel due to the natural sugars that remain in the bean during processing. Despite having vibrant acidity, it has a perfect balance, where sweetness and acidity are perfectly balanced. It is perfect served neat, where its more citrusy character will be accentuated, and if you drink it with milk, its chocolate sweetness will be accentuated.

HISTORY

The Montero family has been visionary, pioneering, and a driving force behind the micromill revolution in Tarrazú, Costa Rica. Carlos Montero has spent his life cultivating coffee, coming from a long line of farmers. He had the vision to process the fruit of his own coffee and work more directly with consumers, building Don Eli in 2014, named after his father. Carlos also played a key role in encouraging many other coffee growers in the Tarrazú region to do the same and begin establishing relationships with roasters.

Jacob has taken over the wet mill over the years and refined his passion for processing the fruit. This year, they added a modest dry mill to prepare the parchment for export. They are always expanding their knowledge, improving quality, and strengthening their direct relationships.

In the early days, Carlos cultivated apple trees on this land, and the terraces created for them have been key to the success of the coffee plants, allowing them to thrive in this unique environment. This agricultural legacy has led to the creation of this lot, known as El Manzanal. The extraordinary conditions of altitude and soil fertility have been essential in producing high-quality coffee, although recent climate changes have made cultivation increasingly challenging and unpredictable.

VARIETY AND PROCESS

The variety of this coffee is Catuai.

Honey Process - Carlos and Jacob know that a good coffee cherry harvest is essential to achieving high quality. The family has worked with the same team of pickers for decades and pays extra for the collection of fully ripe fruit.

The cherries arrive at the Don Eli wet mill and are left to rest for a couple of days before being passed through the depulper and the mechanical demucilager, which removes half of the mucilage.

The parchment is spread on raised drying beds in a medium-thin layer and is manually turned every few hours throughout the day. After approximately 12 days, the parchment reaches its optimal moisture level and is bagged to be processed dry a few weeks later.

RECIPE

You can prepare it in your Italian coffee maker or if you have an espresso machine:

Uses 17 grams of dry coffee to extract 36 grams of total beverage into the cup in 25 to 27 seconds.

Variables to take into account:

KB90

Mill: Mahlkonig E68S

Baskets: VST 17gr

Water: Pentair 75ppm

Pressure: 9 bars

For filter:

We use 20 grams of ground coffee and 320 grams of water at 93°C. We make three pours. We wait 30 seconds for the first 50 grams, then make two 135 gram pours, each lasting a total of 3.5 minutes.

Variables to take into account:

METHOD: V60

MILL: EK43

WATER: 70 ppm