There are two big coffee growing companies in Costa Rica (s’far as I can find tell). Both produce beans for both local consumption and export. It’s these export beans that are of import, because it’s them that taste so good and have such a good reputation.
Café Rey is one of those two companies, and this morning I opened the first batch from our 12 bag haul. That’s right, we brought home about ten pounds of Costa Rica’s finest.
A couple things of note: Tarrazu is a region in CR (derived from the local Indian placename, Atarrazú) just south of San José and Cartago. We were nowhere near here, having flown into Liberia about five hours to the north. (Apparently, you can buy a 50 Ha estate there for $250 000.)
Second, the price. Café Rey sells 340g for $8.25 USD, with free shipping for six bags or more. You can get that from their own site. If you look at the price on the bag, 3 395 colones translates into about $6.95 CDN, so we got a pretty good price.
Thirdly, the beans come from small estate farms, and is fair trade
This was the first bag of our stash that we opened this morning, and this is what the beans looked like:
This is not a bean for Starbuckies lovers. It is a light roast with a very mild, slightly smokey (but not burned) flavour that is very smooth. Unfortunately, we bought this one off the rack, so to speak, in a local Supermercado, so I suspect it wasn’t roasted yesterday. Or the day before.
Still, a lovely little bean and an excellent cuppo joe.
Here’s the description from the Café Rey Website:
Well known as one of the best coffees of the world. Year by year its consistency makes it a coffeelovers favorite.
The Los Santos Zone (Santa Maria de Dota, San Marcos de Tarrazú and San Ignacio de Acosta) take us to the very pure harvesting style of coffee, a place where its climatic combinations create a perfect bean which we turn into the perfect cup.
The competitor’s website gives a bit more info (Cafe Britt, the other of the two main exporters).
Experience Tarrazu Montecielo, a blend for the coffee connoisseurs with a penchant for perfection. Grown in the rich volcanic soils of Costa Rica’s famed Tarrazu region, these choice Arabica cherries are ripened evenly at 1,400 to 1,600 meters, hand-picked, sun dried and dark roasted for a unique taste. Café Britt Tarrazu will surprise you with a flavor that hints of cacao and grapefruit and an aroma of aged wood and dark chocolate. Its intensity fills the palate, then fades cheerfully.
I’m not exactly sure of the grapfruit and dark chocolate (although I like both). With my next pot, I’ll pay special attention, and see if I can sense it. Still, that’s better than raw meat.