Producer: Cerro San Luis Micromill
Farm: Finca La Alquimia
Region: West Valley
Altitude: 1,200-1,900 masl | 3,937-6,234 feet
Varietal: Villa Sarchi
Process: White Honey
Roast: Light-Medium
Notes: Nectarine, Pekoe Tea, Guava

Cerro San Luis Micromill is a family business run by two siblings and their spouses, who own and operate both farms and a small mill in Grecia, in the West Valley. In the interest of improving their quality and remaining competitive, they have focused on growing different varieties, and about 4 years ago they replaced their older stock with 10 or more different types of coffee, including Caturra, Red and Orange Bourbon, SL-28, Catuai, Villa Sarchi, and Maragogype.

Villa Sarchi is a natural mutation of Bourbon with a smaller stature. It was first discovered in Costa Rica in the mid-twentieth century and is mainly grown there today.

The family’s farms are adjacent to one another, but the plots are given separate names for lot separation purposes, and the mill is located at the family home, just a few miles away. They are able to produce a variety of processes, from washed and honey to natural.

Common in Central America, the honey process involves de-pulping freshly harvested cherries and placing them on drying beds to begin fermenting with leftover pulp and sticky mucilage still clinging to the parchment. Based on how much pulp and mucilage remains, a honey process coffee may be classified as White, Yellow, Red, or Black.

Coffee processed this way tends to be fruit-forward like a natural, with a creamier mouthfeel than a washed coffee and somewhat rounded acidity.