Costa Rica El Pastor Villalobos Red Honey

First offering of this lovely fruity coffee.  While we have never offered coffee from the El Pastor farm, the producer and wetmill should be familiar to regular customers: Hector Bonilla, owner of the Don Mayo Micromill. Hector also owns the Bella Vista farm, whose coffee we regularly offer as San Francisco 1900 (the lot name and elevation where the coffee is grown). El Pastor (The Shepherd) is a new farm in the La Pastora micro region in San Marcos Tarrazu, and sits at 1800-1900 meters above sea level. We have in the past been asked how we choose our coffees - generally we are sent samples which we roast, then blind cup. These cuppings usually compare like coffees; ones from the same region, ones with similar processing methods, ones from the same farm but from different plots, etc. Coffees are scored and discussed among the cuppers, who do not know which coffee is which until a selection has been made. Blind cupping allows the coffee to advocate for itself; cuppers cannot base a decision on a favorite farm or producer. We bring this up in regards to the El Pastor farm, as it stood out from a large selection of Costa Rican coffees, and was chosen even before we knew who produced it. This speaks to the care Hector takes at every step of production.

Villalobos variety, also called Villa Sarchi and La Luisa is a natural mutation of a Bourbon population with a single-gene mutation that causes the plant to grow smaller (called “dwarfism’). The variety was discovered in Costa Rica in the 1950s or 1960s in the northwestern region of the province of Alajuela, and has subsequently undergone pedigree selection (selection of individual plants through successive generations) there. This varietal is known for its ability to thrive in high altitudes and is well adapted to areas where wind is prevalent.

This coffee is a red honey process, and a brief explanation of the processing is required to understand the terminology. Since the advent of the micro milling machines, most notably developed by Penagos in Colombia, small farms have the ability to process their own coffee for a somewhat modest cost of entry. These machines use pressurized water mist to strip away the outer skin of the coffee cherry, and they can remove pulp - the fruit surrounding the coffee husk - to a fine tolerance, leaving selective amounts of pulp to dry on the husk. When all the pulp is removed the coffee is fully washed. When a tiny amount of pulp remains it is called yellow honey. A little more pulp: red honey (like this coffee), a lot: black honey. Nowhere is machinery in greater use than in Costa Rica where numerous farmers have gone from selling their cherry to large wetmills to processing their own coffee and selling the coffee under their name. To do this requires a keen understanding of growing and processing, so everyone is equipped to join the party.

• Farm: El Pastor
• Farm Altitude: 1800-1900 Masl
• Washing Station: Don Mayo
• Producer: Hector Bonilla
• Region: Tarrazu
• Micro-Region: La Pastora
• Coffee Variety: Villalobos
• Processing: Red Honey