Costa Rica - Rita Herrera

We just can't stop ourselves from returning to Costa Rica; quickly becoming one of our favourite and most successful selling origins.

Put up on the table this time is a small lot from Rita Herrera, from her farm, Finca Pergujal, specifically, a very special Pacamara varietal lot. 

Rita's passion for coffee runs in her blood, as a fourth generation Costa Rican speciality coffee farmer. As with most things, for generations, most conform to the 'known way' - however, Rita decided to do things differently with her farm, in her first year at Finca Pergujal (2020), instead of selling to traditional mills; Rita sold her coffee to Bean Voyage. 

Bean Voyage are a feminist, not for profit organisation, empowering and supporting women coffee producers throughout South and Central America, eradicating the gender gap in farming, predominantly dominated by male influence. A huge amount of focus is placed in creating safe space for discussion, along with high-quality training in respective fields in the industry (including higher level technology as we move faster through the decade)

The culmination of the collaboration in the work done by Rita and Bean Voyage is nothing short of exceptional; it is rare that when we cup (taste at the initial stage) a coffee, that Jonathan and I (Ash) agree on taste, but this is a proper stand-out and received our unanimous approval.

If we were going to describe this offering; it would have to be primarily as an espresso-based banger, with notes of vanilla, caramel and orange - it has just enough complexity to be incredibly interesting as an espresso (or stove-top method) while also cutting through milk with precision.

Process: Semi-Washed

Location: Los Robles, San Jeronimo Naranjo, Valle Occidental

Altitude: 1500 MASL

Flavour Notes: Vanilla, Caramel and Orange 

Roast Level: Medium

Varietal: Pacamara

If you're further interested about Bean Voyage, please follow the video below to see the project you are supporting when you purchase Rita's coffee.