Hello everyone:
This is a special offering.
Please read and follow directions!
I have 2 Costa Rica Coffee's that are a Honey Processed coffee. Ill post the cupping notes AND the offering all here so you don't have to flip thru pages.
Honey Processed generally involves a short fermentation process in the drying of the beans.
This first cupping will be the Red Honey. More info can be found at Royal's website here:
https://ws.royalny.net/handlers/marketing_card.aspx?id=55349This is the Red Honey; Costa Rica "Las Hermanas de La Candelilla Estate" Red Honey (E)
This was roasted on my Artisan 6, to about 30 seconds past first crack, and rested about 8 days. This coffee IS drinkable sooner but this is how long i rested it due to other coffee's I had lined up to cup as well. This coffee gives you a lot of room for roasting / drinking / brewing.
The grounds have a nice floral to them while brewing. There is a nice rich coffee flavor to the coffee as well. It isn't just another fruit bomb it actually has 'coffee' flavor to it as well !
At the very end, you can smell and taste a bit of the 'fermenty' I'd call it of the Honey processing. Anyone who has ever brewed their own beer, or fermented their own wine, knows what the lees can smell like, taste like, a 'greener' batch, and that fermented flavor / yeasty yum to it.
The mouth feel, this is a full mouthfeel, nice rich but a cleaner cup. There is a bit of brightness to it. and a bit of a nuance like Graham Cracker at the very back end when you swallow it.
Hot - Very Warm - There is a richness to the flavor, you can taste the typical richness of a good Central origin here, and there is a bit of a sweetness overall to the cup. A bit of Honey, that lingers a bit with you after you swallow and the rest of the flavors played out in your mouth. There is a bit of a brightness but it is not really citryssy, it's more Floral / Sweeter fruit, like Tangering, Peach, Nectarine ish, that expands across your palate as you drink the cup. With a kind of honey linger at the end.
Very Warm - Warm - As the cup cools down, it's still a nice smoothness to it, a full mouth feel, you can taste a bit of a Tangerine now along with it, as the brightness picks up a tad. In the end you can taste a bit of the 'Honey' process, as well as the 'Honey' flavor. The red, the 'fermenty' is more towards the end of the cup where as with the Black Honey, which will be cupped next, it's more prevalent in the body of the cup and flavor.
After the swallow, as it's cooling down there is a nice coffee flavor lingering and rolling about in your mouth, and a nice sweet slight aroma you can still sense long after you swallowed.
This coffee does very well as a solo drinker, would be nice in an Espresso or Cappucino or as a cold beverage.
Moving onto the Black Honey Processed.
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This next cupping is the Costa Rica Tarrazu Asoproaaa Black Honey
More can be seen here on royals site:
https://ws.royalny.net/handlers/marketing_card.aspx?id=55350Again, roasted on an Artisan 6, about 45 seconds past first crack, rested a week or so and brewed in a French Press.
Aroma - The Black has a real nice strong aroma. Very floral, you can definitely smell the Berry in this one. Blueberry, Blackberry. As it cools a bit there is also a bit of the must/yeast armoa as well from the Honey Processing. The Berry on this one just explodes up front, even very hot!
Mouth Feel - This coffee has a cleaner mouth feel to it, it's got a bit of a brightness to it, but also a wild bit of a tartness! This is a combination of the Blueberry that is just totally dominating the front, and components of the Honey Process. If you ever made wine, then you know the yeasty flavor in the tailings. It has a smoother texture to it, trying to be clean, and it smooths out as it cools a bit but the Yeasty, Berry just dominate! I really wish I had more than 1 bag of this available to me when it was initially offered.
The complexity here is just all over the place, and your roast profile, brewing, resting, just gives you so many places to go.
One thing I DO want to push here. This coffee LOVES TO REST !!! Do NOT be afraid to let this one rest a week, two weeks, or more !! One would like to think, 2 weeks? eww.. it's starting to go stale, but this one... naah.. some of the more subtle Berry nuances are just starting to wake up! I would dare to say that if you roasted this one too lightly and it was bright, you CAN rest it out, just give it time!!
As the temperature starts to cool down a bit, there is a bit of a Wine flavor to it. I want to say like a Port (Red) wine flavor? A bit towards the dryer end Im going to have to say because of the yeasty, .vs. stupid mad dog sweet .. heh, as IF Id know anything about that!!
As the coffee cools more, the Wine flavor peeks out a bit more, and the Berry comes out after the swallow to bloom, instead of up front, The Yeasimust is blooming a bit earlier in the mouth and really adds an interesting tough to the cup. I am also going to have to say, this is / can be a stronger coffee too, so if you find that some of the flavors may be a bit strong / overpowering, dial back a gram or two on how much you used to brew it with!
As we go into the Very Warm - Warm - ART - there is a bit of a Tang to it, a bit of a Strawberry adding to the Wine flavor, it's putting a bit of Tang in there with the overall flavor, the intensity of the yeasty is down quite a bit and the Blueberry is back out playing at the forefront. I can kind of taste like a Peach or Tangerine in there too towards the back end of the swallow as it's final bloom covers your palate.
In closing, this is a very complex cup of coffee, the flavors are just all over the place and resting it just gives you more versatility to the flavors available to use! You can play with the roast profile I am sure, and I would bet, grind level, brew time, all of that, just makes even more ways to squeeze wow out of this one.
Absolutely a crazy coffee as a solo drinker, I think it'd make a very interesting and good SO Espresso / Cappucino. Those fruit flavors and a full cream would probably be pretty interesting to navigate.
Because of the intensity of the flavors and the Fermenty flavors, I am going to have to label this one as an Aquired Taste type coffee. it's VERY different and some may not like it's intensity. Kind of like a Sulawesi, can just be too much for some people, this one could hit that territory too, but if you like those type coffees, oh this one's gonna rock your boat!
*** *** *** *** *** ***This coffee is being offered as a special offer ONLY!
You can ONLY buy it as this combo, 1 box with 1 5 Pound bag of each Red and Black Honey in it.
You can NOT mix and match with other offerings. I don't want to be playing price games or, will you do this, can you add this and sub this etc.
NO I will NOT.
Out the door.
1 - 10 Lb Box containing 5 Lbs of Red Honey Processed and 5 lbs of Black Honey Processed
Price
$84.84 To your Door
To the mainland 48 States.
If you want a shipment to Alaska, Hawaii, Canada, I can not use UPS so please post here that you want one and DM me for a price.
The post here locks your box in, the DM we get the address and I get you a final price. For you Canada folks, I have NOT tried one there yet but would take an educated guess and say postage might be about 60 US dollars. Overseas probably pushing 85 to 100 dollars.
Here's a quick link if you want one,
$84 to my Door ! Please remember to post here that you ordred one so everyone else knows.
Thank you
Aaron
17 of these left !
