Honey Coffees and Café Rivense Del Chirripó in Costa Rica

Over the years, you may have noticed that we don’t often feature Costa Rican coffees; and when we do, we get honey processed coffees. After all, Costa Rica is known for pioneering the honey process.  It was borne out of necessity: after an earthquake in 2008 prevented access to water sources for several weeks during harvest, many producers had to pivot to using processing methods that require little water use. Soon enough, the honey process became popular in Costa Rica and is now a processing method that is used at many different origins.

In the honey process, ripe cherries are depulped and placed on raised drying beds. As the coffees covered in mucilage start to dry, the coffees get sticky and start to clump together. To prevent mold, over-fermentation, and other defects, coffees must be constantly monitored and rotated to ensure even drying. It’s a labor intensive process to keep the coffees tasting sweet and clean!

There are varying degrees of honey: white, yellow, red, and black–or full honey. White honey has the least amount of mucilage left intact, and full honey all of its mucilage intact. The more mucilage there is, the longer it takes to dry and the higher it is susceptible to defects. White and yellow honey coffees have tasting notes more similar to washed coffees; red honeys are a little more fruity, and full honeys have a heavier mouthfeel, lots of sweetness, and a bit of fruit. It’s the closest to tasting like natural processed coffees.

These are coffees that have been depulped with full mucilage (“honey”) left intact. It becomes stickier as it dries, and the coffees are raked and rotated on a regular basis to promote event drying and prevent clumping.

We love the full honey processed coffee from the Los Cipreses farm in the Chirripó, Brunca region. The farm belongs to the Ureña Rojas family, who also founded the Café Rivense del Chirripó Micromill in 2005. When the coffee’s consistently good and we have a great relationship with our partners, why switch it up, right? We’ve gotten both the full honey processed and full honey processed with special fermentation several times, and this year, we decided to pick the special fermentation.

For this experimental lot, ripe, red cherries are depulped with full mucilage left intact and  immediately placed on raised drying beds for 4-5 days. Afterwards, the coffees are placed in sealed bags to create a low oxygen environment and stored under shade for 2-3 days. In the final step, the coffees are removed and transferred to a mechanical dryer for 2 days. The mechanical dryer is a relatively new addition to the micromill, having only been in use for the past few years. While coffees are still dried on raised beds, Cafe Rivense decided to push through with incorporating a mechanical drier to help them mitigate any risks during long, unpredictable, rainy harvest seasons. Coffee drying is more homogenous in the mechanical dryer, and has also allowed Café Rivense’s production capacity to increase.

Régulo Ureña in the background tending the farm. Café Rivense Del Chirripó Micromill was founded by Régulo Ureña and Isabel Rojas in 2005. Members of the family manage the farm and different operations of the micromill. Café Rivense also works with other farmers in their region and helps them process their coffees.

One of the fun parts of sourcing the same single origin coffee year after year is seeing how it tastes. Is it the same? Has it changed? How has it changed? Every year, we’ve tasted notes of concord grape, gummy candy, and raspberry lambic–but at varying intensities. The first year we had this coffee, it was like drinking a light fruity wine. In the second year, it had even boozier tasting notes, and when served iced with an orange slice, it was the perfect alternative beverage for happy hour on  a Thursday afternoon. This year, the coffee cuts back a little on spirit-forward qualities and leans more into syrupy, fruity flavors. The coffee is refined and makes a perfect cup for those who want to lean into a little just fruit and funk. And yes, it’s definitely good iced!