THE STORY

The La Candelilla estate is located in a small town called San Marcos, in the highland valley of Tarrazú in the southwestern region of Costa Rica. The 70ha estate consists of both farms and a processing mill run by 7 siblings of the Sanchez family, who are the third generation of the coffee producing family. The mill was the first independent mill built in Costa Rica during the early 2000s and since then the Sanchez family have fine-tuned their processes to increase the quality of the coffee they produce. Soil samples are taken throughout the year, which are then analysed by the Coffee Institute of Costa Rica; the results allow for next year's process to be tweaked improving the harvest and quality of crop. The 2020 harvest was a difficult one, with wet weather intruding on the normally dry summer. This, and harvest coming a month early, impacted how the coffee was processed. This lot from the La Candelilla estate consists of honey processed Caturra and Catuai varieties. The cherry is de-pulped through a Penagos machine, before being dried on a mix of African beds and patios for 7-10 days, weather dependent. Expect a vibrant cup: lots of apple and citrus acidity, an element of cloudy lemonade providing a tart nature and a sticky body, balanced by brown sugar sweetness.