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Costa Rica

Altos Honey

Altos Honey

Our tenth year working with Mauricio Vindas; this lot has crisp notes of red berries

$22.00 USD
$22.00 USD

About

Coffee Expression This is our tenth year purchasing coffee from Mauricio Vindas in the Tarrazu region of Costa Rica.

Producer This year Mauricio Jr. was able to visit us in Copenhagen for the first time. He’s now a qualified cupper, and takes responsibility for processing at the farm.

Whole Bean Coffee / Both for filter and espresso

Brewing Advice

Water is one of the most critical components of an excellent coffee experience. We recommend using mineral water of a soft Total Dissolved Solids count, ideally below 150 ppm. 

Rested coffee During the resting process, harsh and astringent flavors, which can even be perceived as a ‘roast’ character, soften out, allowing a clearer and brighter expression of the coffee’s character to shine.  

We recommend resting our coffees for at least 10 days after the roast date, and we often find excellent results, especially for particularly dense coffees, beyond 6 weeks.

Brewing Our straightforward approach to coffee carries over into brewing. We recommend our roasted coffee for all brew methods, regardless of whether it is immersion, percolation or espresso. We believe that there is one correct way to roast a single coffee, roasting lightly, in such a way as to release its innate qualities and showcase its quality. Learn more about different brewing techniques and specific brew guides here.

Technical Data

Producer  Mauricio Vindas

Region Tarrazu

Altitude 1800 masl

Varietal  Catuai

Process Honey

Harvest February 2024

Taste Expression Sweet & Balanced

Shipping & Delivery

· Free shipping on US orders above $79 and on orders above $99 to Mexico and Canada

· Ships within 1-3 days from Brooklyn, New York

· Coffee is roasted to order

· More info

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Altos

Altos del Abejonal sits at 1800 metres above sea level in the Tarrazu region, only 70 kilometres south of the Costa Rican capital San Jose. The Talamanca Sierra runs through the region, with peaks of above 3000 masl. The farm is also close to the regional capital of San Marcos, which sits at 1350 masl and is home to 9000 people, providing the hub to an area famous for its high quality coffee production. The volcanic soil and afternoon cloud cover in the region provides the perfect conditions for Mauricio to produce excellent coffees at Altos.

Honey processing is popular in Costa Rica as an alternative to washed processing, providing a cleaner cup with more acidity than a natural coffee, but with a much lower water usage than traditional washed processing.

At Altos, the ripe cherries are first run through Mauricio’s Penagos Eco-Pulper, which even further reduces water and electricity usage at his micro-mill. The amount of mucilage left on the cherry will control the amount of influence the fruit has on the coffee as it dries. More mucilage leads to a flavour profile closer to a natural coffee, ripe, sweet and heavy, while coffees dried with less mucilage are more reminiscent of a washed lot, with higher acidity, more clarity and lower body. The colour of the honey normally describes the amount of mucilage left on the seed, white, yellow, red, black, in order of increasing mucilage. Mauricio accomplishes his red honey process by removing some mucilage from the seeds before they are laid out on the beds to dry slowly for around 14 days.

This coffee shows a different side of the Altos terroir, still noticeably sweet, but more delicate with a pronounced citrus acidity.

Mauricio

We first met Mauricio by chance. In March 2014 we were in Tarrazu, travelling around farms as guests of Exclusive Coffees, an exporter based in the region. After the last farm visit, our driver had to make a quick errand to see a friend, whose son had broken his hip and couldn’t leave home. The driver dropped off a gift for the boy, while we made conversation with his father. He was also a coffee farmer, and told us stories of his passion for coffee production and of how his son wanted to become a barista. We visited Altos again the next day, and bought our first couple of bags.

2024 is our tenth year buying coffees from Mauricio. In 2023, we visited Exclusive’s cupping lab in San José, cupping through Altos day lots together with Mauricio Jr., who’s now a qualified cupper, and takes responsibility for processing at the farm. This year, Junior was able to make the return trip to visit us in Copenhagen, touring our roastery and coffee shop in the city.

The hard work and dedication shown by Mauricio and Mauricio Jr. at every stage of coffee production is obvious in the cup, and we are proud to showcase their work to so many of those who truly appreciate it.