In every industry you need people to set the bar, that are committed to excellence and diversity of a global community. When it comes to the coffee, that's the COE.
After going head to head with roasters from around the globe, we managed to secure the lot – Lot #11 to be exact, from the 2019 Cup Of Excellence Costa Rica competition.
The following is the journey of Lot #11’s Chispita, from farm to cup.
Farming
Finca Chispita is situated in Cirri Sur, Naranjo, and is part of the Alajuela province. This award winning Costa Rica farm is the result of hard work and dedication of Don Carlos. He and his wife, Diana, own five small farms and La Perla Del Cafe Micromill —”micro” being the key word here. Not only do they produce about 300 bags a year, but their dedication to quality means they focus on quality over quantity in all ways, working with the exact same group of pickers every year, a group of 45 indigenous people from Panama who travel to the farms for work every season, and with whom they keep in touch, like family, the rest of the year.
This year the farm produced a Kenia SL28 as a natural process, a change from the their normal honeys or washed process coffees.
He was the first producer in Costa Rica to be given SL-28, and rather than hoard the special variety for himself, he has distributed seeds to friends and neighbors for the past few years.) Don Carlos believes that growing nontraditional varieties, in addition to focusing on honey and natural processing, will be what allows him to differentiate La Perla’s coffee from others in the region.
Rank: 11
Farm Name: Finca Chispita
Farmer: Don Carlos
Score: 88.44
Altitude: 1500 masl
Variety: Kenia SL28
Acidity: Lemon Lime, Citric, Malic, Soft
Processing System: Natural
Country: Costa Rica
Roasting
High quality coffee deserves a high quality roaster, and lucky for us – we just so happened to recently welcome a 1kg Probatino roaster into our workforce. Some might say it was perfect timing, but what a better way to break it in than with some of the world’s best coffee. It provided an opportunity to roast in small batches and play with the roast degree to create a profile that can reflect all of the complexity of these beans into a single cup. All of the flavours you taste are the result of the sugar development. The light degree of the roasting helps to conserve the full flavours and makes for a perfectly clean cup.
Brewing
The way in which your coffee is brewed plays just as much a part in the flavour process, as the farming and roasting itself. To get the best results from Chispita we recommend soft brewing or traditional pour over methods, this can include Chemex, filter drippers/V60 and Aeropress. A brew temperature of approximately 93 degrees will ensure a perfect cup, but if you’re brewing in the comfort of your own home, pour just off boiling point.
Tasting Notes
Black Grape, White Peach, Black Cherry, Tropical Fruits and Chocolate
Pour Over
Dose: 15g
Time: 2 min
Water: 250ml
Grind: Medium
Chemex (6 Cup)
Dose: 50g
Time: 4;30
Water: 700ml
Grind: Almost as coarse as plunger
Aeropress
Dose: 16g
Time: 2 min
Water 200ml
Grind: Slightly coarser than medium
About The COE
Cup of Excellence is the most prestigious competition and auction for high quality coffees. The level of scrutiny that Cup of Excellence coffees undergo is unmatched anywhere in the speciality coffee industry. Each year, thousands of coffees are submitted for consideration, with winning coffees sold in global online auctions at premium prices, with the vast majority of auction proceeds going to the farmers. Many of which tune in for the live auction themselves.
The competition has pioneered integrity and transparency in the coffee industry, right down to each lot having been documented through the entire process so that winning coffees are traceable to the farm and exact micro-lot.
COE raises funds for coffees farmers in coffee growing countries incentivizing and motivating farmers who know there can be a recognition and financial reward for their hard work and effort.
A rigorous series of events, that has earned the
respect of the coffee industry, and coffee drinkers alike.
This year at Atomic Coffee we sought out the Costa Rica COE sample set, held public cuppings, and made our selects before taking part in the live auction.
