PREORDER: Special Reserve ARBAR Geisha White Honey
Beautifully floral cup of jasmine and vanilla, with juicy apricot and peach tea flavours and honey aftertaste.
FARM INFO
The ARBAR micro-mill is owned by Carlos and Maria Arrieta Soto, The mill name "ARBAR" comes from the combined family names - Carlos ARietta and Maria BARboza - ARBAR, clever eh!
Their family home and the milling area of the mill are right in the middle of the Manantial farm, 1 of the 4 small farms that Carlos and Maria run between them. It’s all laid out immaculately, with the drying beds, depulper, and nursery areas laid out around the edge of the house.
Carlos and Maria are very active members of the local community and have close relationships with their neighbours - which include CoE winning mills like Herbazu, Vista Al Valle and Sumava. The farm operates mostly Organic processes, but they're not Organic certified. They believe in the value of biodiversity on the farms, and plants like fruit trees are positioned among the coffee plants to provide shade and to help the soil. These trees also provide food for the family. They even have a few sheep and other animals, with the farm being as self-sufficient as possible. They have one full-time employee, who lives on the farm.
Before they sold to us, the ARBAR production was sold to a big cooperative. For that, it makes sense to grow tried-and-trusted coffee varieties like Caturra, Catuai, and Villa Sarchi. These are all proven to produce a good cup, and they're relatively resilient and don’t need to be spaced out too much.
When Carlos and his family started selling to us, it gave them a chance to
try new things; the prices that we pay gave them the opportunity to take bigger risks. One of the ways they did this was by trying small plantings of new varietals including Bourbon, Kenya (SL28), and this one – Geisha.
The coffee plants' low yielding, thin, and spindly branches mean they are vulnerable to the strong winds that are common at higher altitudes. To help protect the plants, they’re surrounded by tall trees and kept in the lee of the hill, where they can grow freely. Furthermore, it's about as pest-friendly as a coffee tree comes (although resistant to leaf rust!), so you just don't get much production. But what you do get is pure deliciousness.
- Country: Costa Rica
- Region: Western Valley
- City: Lourdes de Naranjo
- Producer: Carlos Arrieta & Family
- Micromill: ARBAR
- Altitude: 1,600 m.a.s.l.
- Varietal: Geisha
- Process: White Honey