Costa Rica Red Honey La Pradera

La Minita bought this Costa Rican farm (La Pradera) because it has just the absolute ideal altitude and climate (rain shadow) for growing coffee. From the very highest point of the farm, they grew only red bourbon varietal trees, processed the coffee by hand, and vacuum packed them on site.

We bought the vacuum packed bags, had them air-lifted out of Costa Rica to keep them off of container ships, and it is immaculate. This is their honey processed lot, which is the first year they've experimented with that.

The coffee should be treated as a light roast and has a nutty and sweet and floral taste. Obviously, nothing about this process or obtaining this coffee was cheap, and a coffee of this quality and freshness, grown in such perfect conditions, is extraordinarily rare or else it's all we would buy! Honey coffees are easy to scald so when we roast it, we use small batches and low heat and keep the drum  speed high and the airflow high.

It’s best when roasted slowly; the beans are dense, grown at extremely high altitude, and they require more heat than most honeys. Pull it out about 15 seconds after the 1st cracks. It’s a coffee that you can brew as espresso or as coffee. Either way it has subtle fruit and mouth-watering juiciness.

US Arrival August 2022