Altos
Altos del Abejonal sits at 1800 metres above sea level in the Tarrazu region, only 70 kilometres south of the Costa Rican capital San Jose. The Talamanca Sierra runs through the region, with peaks of above 3000 masl. The farm is also close to the regional capital of San Marcos, which sits at 1350 masl and is home to 9000 people, providing the hub to an area famous for its high quality coffee production. The volcanic soil and afternoon cloud cover in the region provides the perfect conditions for Mauricio to produce excellent coffees at Altos.
Mauricio
We first met Mauricio by chance. In March 2014 we were in Tarrazu, travelling around farms as guests of Exclusive Coffees, an exporter based in the region. After the last farm visit, our driver had to make a quick errand to see a friend, whose son had broken his hip and couldn’t leave home. The driver dropped off a gift for the boy, while we made conversation with his father. He was also a coffee farmer, and told us stories of his passion for coffee production and of how his son wanted to become a barista. We visited Altos again the next day, and bought our first couple of bags. 2024 is our tenth year buying coffees from Mauricio.
In 2023, we visited Exclusive’s cupping lab in San José, cupping through Altos day lots together with Mauricio Jr., who’s now a qualified cupper, and takes responsibility for processing at the farm. This year, Junior was able to make the return trip to visit us in Copenhagen, touring our roastery and coffee shop in the city. The hard work and dedication shown by Mauricio and Mauricio Jr. at every stage of coffee production is obvious in the cup, and we are proud to showcase their work to so many of those who truly appreciate it.
Honey processing is popular in Costa Rica as an alternative to washed processing, providing a cleaner cup with more acidity than a natural coffee, but with a much lower water usage than traditional washed processing. At Altos, the ripe cherries are first run through Mauricio’s Penagos Eco-Pulper, which even further reduces water and electricity usage at his micro-mill. The amount of mucilage left on the cherry will control the amount of influence the fruit has on the coffee as it dries. More mucilage leads to a flavour profile closer to a natural coffee, ripe, sweet and heavy, while coffees dried with less mucilage are more reminiscent of a washed lot, with higher acidity, more clarity and lower body.
The colour of the honey normally describes the amount of mucilage left on the seed, white, yellow, red, black, in order of increasing mucilage. Mauricio has dubbed this process ‘washed’, as so much of the mucilage is removed by the Eco-pulper’s brushes, that there is almost no influence on the final cup. These very clean seeds are then laid out on the beds to dry slowly for around 14 days.
This coffee shows a different side of the Altos terroir, still noticeably sweet, but more delicate with a pronounced citrus and berry acidity.
