What I’m Brewing: Costa Rica Don Eli (Cup of Excellence 2021) by Mattina Coffee

What I’m Brewing

Dec 28

Origin: Costa Rica
Farm: Don Eli
Farmer: Jacob Montero
Process: Natural
Altitude: 1,900 masl
Varietal: Geisha
Notes: Floral, apricot, itrus fruits and brown sugar
Cup Score: 89.21

Last week was fun with Mattina Coffee at their end-of-the-year latte art battle. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, then read this post. They handed out a limited edition Costa Rica from the Don Eli Farm to the judges and the competitors, super nice of them to do that. This coffee scored an 89.21 and stood 8th out of the top 30 coffees at the Cup of Excellence Costa Rica 2021 auction that took place a few months ago.

Make no mistake, this is a Geisha and like all Gieshas, has to be brewed responsibly. The end result is a bright cup of floral goodness. The mouthfeel is on the lighter side, probably because of the way I’m brewing it, making it very tea-like. Yes, I am using this coffee very sparingly. 15g at a time since I’ve a total of 150g to play around with. I want it to last as long as possible.

I have also had the opportunity to have this coffee with Naji, one of the co-founders of Mattina Coffee, before it was released in the market. It was in the form of an espresso, and it was oozing with Apricot and notes of caramel to balance out the acidity. I think the roasters have done a very good job roasting this to suit all methods of brewing. I primarily brewed it on a V60 at home.

This coffee hails from the Don Eli farm and belongs to the Montero family for over four generations. The Tarrazu region is rich in volcanic soil, and famous for producing some of the best coffee to come out of Costa Rica.

The Monteros established themselves as specialty coffee producers less than a decade ago, and put in place their own version of a micro-mill to process coffee. What this allows them to do is regulate their own coffee and focus on innovating unique processing methods. Having the mindset of quality over quantity is the reason they are in the top 30.

Carlos Montero, the head of the family, is making an effort on pioneering sustainability on his farm. He has set up a nano-lot with chemical free soil, and has planned to keep it this way for many years to come. This is an experiment which I can see reap many benefits. His son, Jacob, is managing the farm, the processing and quality control of the coffee.

The Geisha used in this auction were planted six years ago. This is a naturally processed lot, drying the cherries the old-school way on African beds. This is unique to Don Eli, the best lots go through this process in a slow and controlled manner over a period of 40 days. All of this takes place under shade.

My brewing recipe:

Coffee: 15g
Water: 225g
Temperature: 90 Degrees C
Ratio: 1:15
Total Brew Time: 2 minutes 15 seconds

Three pours in total. Pour 45g of water, bloom for 30 seconds. The next two pours will be 90g of water each. Finish the second pour at the one minute mark and proceed with the third pour after the water has finished dripping. Focus on pouring slowly.