La Pachuca | Costa Rica| Juicy Honey

Roberto Mata is a giant of Costa Rican coffee. For more than 20 years he led the team at Coopedota, helping to establish it as one of the most successful smallholder coffee cooperatives in Central America and one of Intelligentsia's most trusted direct trade partners around the world. When he decided in 2017 to take a new direction and start a new coffee company with his son Michael, we supported him in this.

Juicy Honey

The honey process starts on the farm with the selection of ripe cherries with optimal red colour. They are sorted and then carefully pressed using as little water as possible. After pulping, they are fermented in their own slime and with the pulp of another batch for 120 hours.

This batch was dried on the African beds under full sun exposure for 2 days to avoid excessive fermentation or mold growth. She was then moved to the raised beds with 75% shade for another 13 days until she reached a moisture content of 11.5% or less. The total drying time for this batch was 15 days.

After drying, they are taken to a warehouse where they rest to slowly dry and homogenize the moisture in the whole coffee beans. This slow drying process also extends the shelf life of the beans by keeping the embryo alive for as long as possible.