Episode 348 on Monday the 13th of July, 2015. Costa Rica Finca Kattia Herbazu Yellow Honey Process Villa Sarchi. - a podcast by Stephen Leighton

An old favourite returns! But this time, it returns with a little more information.

Costa Rica Herbazu is a mill in the Naranjo region, which is the sixth canton in the province of Alajuela in Costa Rica. The canton covers an area of 126.62 square kilometres and has a population of 45,005 people.

Herbazu isn't a million miles from another of our old favourites: the amazing and lovely Licho! Like Licho, Herbazu is a family-run concern. It consists of 13 micro farms, owned by 5 brothers and 8 sisters who all have a say in the running and development of this farm/mill. I was lucky enough to visit Herbazu and meet some of the family in February 2011, February 2013 and again last year in January 2014.

When I visited I was fortunate enough to cup nearly 20 different lots of coffee from this farm (different days' picking, different parts of the farms, and different honeys of red and yellow); this lot shone head and shoulders, and little tippie-toes, above them all. On a blind cupping table of over 130 coffees this was one of my favourites. It was super special, and I hope you are going to feel the same about it too.

In the cup straight away you're going to get loads and loads of sticky-sweet toffee. Then there's a blast of lemon acidity (think sweet lemons) before the toffee marches back in with a massive hit of Nutella chocolate spread. There is a hint of candy floss there when brewed as espresso. Super sweet and delicious coffee.

• Country: Costa Rica


• Province: Alajuela


• Region: Naranjo


• Nearest City: Lourdes de Naranjo


• Farm: Finca Kattia


• Mill: Herbazú


• Varietal: Villa Sarchí


• Processing: Honey Process


• Altitude: 1,500 - 1,600 m.a.s.l.


• Owner: Hermanos Barrantes Zuñiga

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