Juan Carlos Valerio Quesada [Villa Sarchi black honey] filter roast

Hacienda Valerio sits at an altitude of 1500 meters, with Volcan Poas looming overhead. The farm has rich volcanic soil and a perfect climate for growing coffee. Juan’s coffee farm grows with one side facing east, the other west, then continues down the ridge towards the valley towards the San Jose. In 2010, without any prior coffee experience, Juan Carlos agreed to take over the farm that belonged to his father-in-law, & had been in the family for 70 years. No one else in the family was much interested in continuing to farm coffee, and the land had sadly fallen into a poor state. With the help of Marco Corrales Bolanos, Juan Carlos’ right-hand man and something of an operations manager of the farm, the pair have been renovating a section of the farm each year, 'poco-a-poco’ (little by little), returning the farm to its former glory. Looking towards the future, Juan Carlos sees the growing demand for quality coffee. He not only plans to continue improving his farming practices, but he also has big plans to build a micro-mill on the farm. This coffee was processed using a semi-washed 'honey' method. After harvesting, the coffee cherries are de-pulped & then dried on raised beds with the sticky mucilage 'cherry flesh' still attached. The beans are in a pile no deeper than 10cm & are turned every 30 minutes. Drying takes 8-10 days. The more mucilage that is left on the bean, the darker the colour as it dries, yellow honey being the least mucilage, black honey the most & red honey somewhere in the middle.