Don Eli - White Honey
Description
MEET THE PRODUCER | This coffee is a real family effort! Imported by our friends at Selva Coffee and produced by the father / father-in-law of that husband-wife duo, Carlos Moreno, this lot was processed at a wet mill bearing Carlos's father's name and touched many familial hands on its way to Raleigh, North Carolina. The Moreno family are well known in Tarrazu region of Costa Rica; they've been called visionaries, game changers, and even pioneers in the specialty coffee game there. Over 20 years ago, when he took over the family operation, Carlos Moreno had a bold vision of not just farming coffee, but also processing it and selling it directly to consumers and roasters. Fast forward to 2014, when Carlos had constructed the wet mill that now bears his father's name, and the rest, well - you know how it goes.
TRUST THE PROCESS | The coffee cherries arriving at Don Eli Wet Mill are sent through a pulping machine and a mechanical demucilager before being spread out on raised drying beds for about 12 days, during which time they are moved around by hand every couple of hours. Once optimum moisture content is achieved, the lot is bagged up and set aside to be dry milled on-site a few weeks later. In this final step, the parchment is peeled, and the coffee undergoes three layers of sorting: first by screen size, then by density, and finally by hand for defects.
TAKE A SIP | One thing on which we all agreed around the cupping table: this coffee is simply crushable. With astonishingly clean fruit characteristics, like dried apricot and bartlett pear, you could almost mistake it for a washed coffee. The sweetness is confectionary in nature, reminding us of oatmeal cookies and maple butter. Coffee dorks and grandmothers alike will swoon.
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Origin | El Llano de La Piedra, San Marcos, Tarrazu, Costa Rica
Producer | Carlos Montero
Wet Mill | Don Eli Wet Mill
Process | White Honey
Variety | Catuai
Elevation | 1800-2000 masl
