Description
Cerro Las Ranas ‘the hill of the frogs” is back!!!!!!
Having stocked this honey microlot five years ago for a number of seasons I’m delighted to have it back.
I am also delighted to be working with Jasal coffee again who we teamed up with for our El Robel Tablon Eclusive Lot.
JASAL is a family owned business with more than 100 years of experience in cultivating, processing and exporting one of the finest coffees in the country.
The farm itself is part of a national forest reserve which, at its highest point has a lagoon that is home to thousands of frogs, which, at certain times of the year are to be found across the farm. So ubiquitous are these that the symbol for the Jasal group has become a frog, and the coffee name, ‘Ranas’, translates to English as frog, whilst ‘Cerro’ means mountain or hill.
Coffees are milled at the groups Benficio Las Cruces, located in nearby Santa Ana. Despite being a historic processing centre with over 100 years behind it, it has been regularly updated to and is currently renovated to contain wet and dry processing facilities, along with eco-friendly equipment, raised African beds, patios and mechanical driers. For the semi washed coffees from this farm cherries are depulped and moved to the drying tables via water channels. This tends to be because a slightly larger volume is depulped at one time, as in this instance, an entire plot on the farm. The brief contact with water slightly reduces the percentage of mucilage on the bean and therefore affects the final flavour in the cup. This differs from the honey process for the farm in that honey process has no contact with water and is therefore processed in much smaller lots.
This coffee also contains the varietal referred to as HSF, an abbreviation for Hibrido de San Francisco, giving away the fact that this farm lent its name to the Bourbon x Pacas cross here discovered. Cup quality is very similar to Bourbon, but it has a slightly higher productivity and shows greater tolerance to rust, though is not completely resistant.
On Espresso Sweet caramel, brown sugar and molasses. Lush body and mouthfeel followed by a creamy chocolate/orange finish.
