Costa Rica Cumbres del Poas “Alma Negra” Natural Micro Lot RNY #43982 – Pour Over

This is another delicious microlot that just came in and went right out the doors of Royal NY. It has already been sold, but if this peaks your interest, you may like this yellow honey offering from the same producers and mill or the Tarrazu Finca El Alto Natural Micro Lot. Also make sure to keep your eyes peeled in March/April of next year to reserve some of this specific coffee. This coffee comes to us from the Las Lajas mill in Central Costa Rica. It consists of the Caturra variety and is grown at 1500 masl and is naturally processed.

The Alma Negra natural process is defined by selective harvesting of only the ripest cherries. These cherries are washed and moved to patios for drying, and are moved intermittently throughout the morning, then capped and covered in the afternoon and evenings. Cherries dry for between 22 and 27 days. The drying mill, Las Lajas, is one of the best micro mills in Costa Rica and is well known for its exceptional drying techniques for natural and honey-processed coffees. Oscar and Francisca are constantly experimenting and developing new processing techniques to create the best possible coffees.

We tried 3 different roasts on the Stronghold S7:

Roast 1: For this roast we used a higher charge temperature and had a steady decline of heat from yellowing on with a big drop off before first crack. This resulted in 12% development with a total roast time of 7:45 and a medium end temperature. On the cupping table it had aromatics of raspberries, hershey’s chocolate, honey suckle, red fruit and flavors of pineapple, guava, raspberry, lime, white wine. The coffee was Juicy with a jolly rancher finish

Roast 2: We used a higher charge temperature, and a consistent steady decline of heat. This led to 15% development and a 9:08 total roast time and a slightly higher ending temperature. On the cupping table it had aromatics of: apricot, lime, chocolate, peach and cinnamon with a touch of smoke and flavors of raspberry, lime, cherry, rounder and fuller with a smooth limeade finish.

Roast 3: We used a higher charge temperature, with a slow decline of heat application. This resulted in 19.1% development and a 10:03 total roast with a medium end temperature. On the cupping table it had aromatics of chocolate, raspberry jam, pineapple upside down cake and red wine. Flavors of starfruit, mango, papaya, stewed fruit, punchy and slick body with lively acidity. This one was perfectly balanced so we decided to use it to brew, although all of these roasts tasted great. It would be quite hard to break this coffee, although we do recommend it for light to medium roasts.

Brewed on a Hario- V-60. This coffee was so juicy on the cupping table we really wanted minimal filtration and a faster brew to allow for all of this coffees vibrancy to show through. We Started out with a 1/16 ratio, and a medium/fine grind setting (6 on the Mahlkonig Ek-43) we did multiple small 50g pours, finishing up our brew at 2:30 with the final drip out being 3:30. This resulted in 1.35% Solubles Concentration and 18.8% TDS The brew tasted a tad watery, with a slightly drying finish. We had notes of roasted pineapple and lime with a sweet tart acidity.

We decided to design the next recipe to have a higher soluble concentration (to increase the body and intensity) and a slightly lower extraction percentage (to remove the touch of bitterness and make that yummy acidity pop a tad more. We did this by tightening up the ratio a tad to 1:15 (to increase the intensity) and coarsening the grind a tiny tiny bit to decrease the extraction.

Recipe:

-20g (7 days off roast) coffee, ground on 6.5 on a Mahlkonig ek-43. with 300ml of filtered water at 205F,

–60g bloom for 25 seconds – with 3 – 50ml pours every 30 seconds with the final one being 90ml, and finishing at 2:30

-Final drip out time 3:15

-TDS: 1.43

-Extraction Percentage: 18.16%

In the cup we found notes of tangerine, lime, Hawaiian punch, green pear, lingering sweetness coupled with citric acidity. The coffee had a juicy body and was a tart brew with plenty of sweetness to support it.