Costa Rica - Grecia - Isidro Oviedo - Black Honey + Natural

• Country: Costa Rica
• Region: Grecia, San Isidro, West Valley
• Producer: Isidro Oviedo
  
• Varietal: Sarchimor
• Process: Black Honey + Natural
• Altitude: 1450 MASL
• Cupping Notes: Guava, Gummy Bears, White Wine, Green Apple, Sparkly, Juicy 

Description:

Costa Rican Black Honeys are uniquely prized for their precision, consistency, and complexity, a result of the country’s advanced micro-mill culture, and meticulous processing standards. Unlike Black Honeys from other regions that can taste muddled with repetitive flavors, Costa Rican producers carefully control every variable of the honey process, from selective cherry picking to slow shaded drying that preserves nearly all the fruit’s mucilage. We've found they are one of the most complex, unique, and exciting coffees available - with ranges of green, red, purple, and yellow fruits, to Fruity Pebbles, Gummy Bears, Honey-Nut Cheerios and more - some of the best cups we've ever had have been Costa Rican Black Honeys. This cup is exactly that - Vibrant, Complex, and Unique.

Black Honey + Natural, is a unique coffee process that combines elements of both honey and natural methods. After harvesting, the coffee cherries are pulped but left with most of their sticky fruit mucilage still on the beans - 100% in this case. They are then dried slowly on raised beds under careful control, allowing the sugars from the fruit to absorb into the seed. This creates a rich, syrupy body with deep sweetness, and crisp acidity — offering a cup that’s both vibrant, smooth, and complex.

Traveling towards the Poas Volcano, and through the small bustling town of Grecia, sugar cane fields lead the way to the mountains where coffee is King. Isidro Oviedo has devoted his life to the cultivation and processing of coffee, and from an early age he absorbed the wisdom passed down through generations - an intimate knowledge of coffee that can only be acquired through time and dedication - as El Greco, has been in the Oviedo family for over 50 years.

Among the varieties he cultivates, Sarchimor stands out, a resilient hybrid known for its resistance to disease and its balanced cup profile - and on Isidro’s farm, this variety thrives! Producing coffees with bright acidity, medium body, and delicate notes that reflect both the terroir of Grecia, and the care with which each bean is grown.

This lot was pulped and dried with 100% of the mucilage. It’s dried on African beds inside a green house where Isidro has developed a specific technique of not moving the beans during the first two days of drying. Afterwards the coffee is moved every hour during day time, with a drying time that  is approximately 12 days total, after which the coffee rests leading up to export.