Costa Rica Zarcero Danto Washed Process

Region: Zarcero, West Valley, Costa Rica

Maria Elena Castro and son Luis Salazar opened their micro mill, Beneficio Monte Brisas in 2011. Their farms sit between 1500 and 1750 meters above sea level on the lush mountainous slopes of Zarcero in Costa Rica's famed West Valley growing region.

This lot comes from a part of the farm called "Danto", where they are growing Centroamericano variety, an F1 hybrid known for disease resistance and high cup potential.

At the Monte Brisas mill their coffee is mechanically washed on a Desacafe machine and sun dried on raised beds adjacent to the wet mill. Leaving that fruit mucilage intact instead of washing it away is the hallmark of honey process coffee. This lot, however, is what some call "semi-washed", or "white honey", the Costa Rican equivalent of a fully washed coffee. The demucilager machine is calibrated to remove as much fruit as possible. Then the coffee is soaked for a short period to help wash away some of the remaining fruit. Without fermentation, there is still a very thin layer of fruit intact resulting in a darker color, and a higher instance of chaff than the typical fully washed/fermented coffee.

Washed Process (Wet)

Centroamericano