Roasting September 23rd ONLY (8oz Bags)

Tasting Notes: apple pie, cinnamon, baking spice

Origin:  Costa Rica

Preferred Brewing Methods: French Press / Drip / Unique Espresso 

Our latest featured coffee, Costa Rica El Diamante (The Diamond), is the inaugural offering of our newest program, the White Label coffees. The White Label program was created to make available limited quantities of extremely rare and interesting coffees to our retail customers. Each of these coffees posesses something unique in the cup that reflects both the care and the adventurousness of the producer. Some coffees will highlight the heady aromas of rediscovered varietals, some will display the perfect balance of exotic microclimates, some will deliver surprising, vivid flavors engendered by innovative processing methods. Regardless of their pedigree, each of these coffees will present outstanding qualities that will ensure their addition to that select group of cups that you remember fondly for years, and that form the standard against which future cups are measured.

Costa Rica El Diamante comes to us from the El Cerro farm belonging to Carlos Fernández Morera, located in the center of the country in Alajuela. Mr. Fernández Morera is an experienced farmer; this is his 62nd season growing coffee in the region, where his family has lived since 1895. His deep connection to his trees and the soil he works is evident in the way he talks. “Coffee is a very grateful crop,” he says. “If you dedicate a little love, it responds very well… The earth is a living element, we must take care of it, pamper it, so that it transmits to the coffee plant all its force.” Many of his 4 grown children and 9 grandchildren help on the estate, his eldest works directly with administration, his youngest works for the export brand, Café de Altura, and his oldest grandson is an agronomist. Coffees grown at El Cerro have finished in the top 5 of the prestigious Cup of Excellence competition in the last two years.

The stunning flavors present in a cup of El Diamante are the result not only of the experience and passion of the farmer but are also a result of the unique and innovative anaerobic fermentation process. Most coffees spend several hours in fermentation tanks after the fruit has been removed from the bean, a process that allows for the removal of the husk like skin beneath. In the case of El Diamante after the fruit is removed the coffee undergoes a sealed-tank anaerobic fermentation process. A small quantity of the discarded fruit and a little water are added to the mix, and the slurry is closely monitored for pH, temperature, brix, and a host of other variables. Under a watchful eye, the high degree of environmental control this allows contributes immeasurably to the coffee’s flavor. After fermentation the lot is dried for 3 days on a patio before moving to raised beds for another eighteen days of drying.

The resulting cup can be described as apple pie like in its flavor. The initial sip reveals loads of juicy green apple flavor, moderated by notes of sweet baking spice. As you savor the silky mouthfeel a dominant and very distinctive aroma of cinnamon pervades, gently dissolving into more tart notes of apple and tamarind.

I have to say that in my 38 years of cupping coffee professionally I’ve never tasted anything like it. - Steve Smith | Fonte Master Roaster