Honey Process Coffee Recommendations | Costa Rica Coffee Introduction | West Valley | FINCA ANGELINA

Coffee Information

Coffee Details

Region: Los Robles de Naranjo, West Valley

Farm: Finca Angelina

Variety: Villa Sarchi

Altitude: 1450 masl

Flavor Profile

Very sweet, smooth, and juicy. Honey, peach, caramel, and jasmine-like floral notes, with a fresh cedar aroma. Delicate, bright acidity; a very smooth, creamy mouthfeel with caramel sweetness.

Producer Story

This coffee comes from the renowned Aguileras family of Costa Rica. The Aguileras number 12 siblings, all of whom started in coffee production alongside their parents. During harvest season the brothers work the mill with essentially no hired help; with the third generation now assisting, they labor year-round at the processing plant, on the patios, pruning the coffee fields, fertilizing, and more. The Aguileras brothers put tremendous emphasis on the quality of both farm and mill production.

Processing Method

This coffee is processed by the honey method: the skin is removed during washing, but some sticky mucilage is left on the beans for drying, then stripped mechanically along with the parchment. The cup's deliciousness and bright acidity suggest considerable pulp was removed before drying — though that impressive character may also owe something to the variety, as this batch is entirely Villa Sarchi.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Honey process began as an adaptation of Brazil's pulped natural (semi-washed) method — coffee is depulped and then dried with some or all of the mucilage intact, shortening drying time while avoiding the off-flavors of uncontrolled fermentation. Costa Rica borrowed the idea and refined it by how much mucilage is retained and how long the beans dry, giving rise to white, yellow, red, and black honey. Finca Angelina's lot above sits at the brighter, cleaner end of that spectrum. For the opposite extreme, try FrontStreet Coffee's Blackberry: a black honey that removes almost no mucilage and dries for at least 2 weeks under shading to slow the process, with regular turning to prevent uneven fermentation. Roasted medium-light, it grinds into a perfume of fresh flowers and brews into grape, berry, and mature blackberry flavors. For something even more unusual, the Mozart is a raisin honey lot — cherries pre-dried on raised beds for at least three days before depulping, keeping 100% of the mucilage, a method whose precise timing is even harder to master than black honey. It yields rich hot-fruit sweetness: osmanthus, pineapple, and raisin in pour-over, cold brew, or moka pot. And the Strawberry Candy Gesha Blend pairs a Panama Gesha's classic orange-blossom honey character with a Costa Rican raisin honey component — float-sorted the day of harvest, dried at least three days on raised beds, turned constantly — for grape and dried blueberry aromatics, soft fruit acidity, an almond aftertaste, and unmistakable sweetness.