Today we have launched our new Limited Edition coffee, Limited Perla Negra. This single bag batch arrives from Costa Rica.
Limited coffees are small-batch coffees of particularly high quality and their availability is usually very limited. This was also the case this time, as we only managed to get one 69-kilo bag of Perla Negra. The coffee has received a quality rating of 88 points, meaning it is a very high-quality coffee.
The aromas of the coffee are berry sweetness, grapefruit acidity and cocoa-like chocolate. The mouthfeel is rich and lingering, but the acidity is fresh and pleasant. A very interesting coffee, and there is an interesting story behind it – as coffee almost always does.
Perla Negra is the result of a special treatment process
Farmer Oscar Chaco and Cafe Imports green coffee buyer Luis Arocha on the drying patio at Finca Sabonilla. Photo: Cafe Imports
Perla Negra comes from central Costa Rica, about a 45-minute drive from the capital San Jose. The coffee comes from the Finca Sabonilla farm, which is run by Oscar and Francisca Chacon in their third generation. The coffee grows in volcanic soil at an altitude of 1,450 meters above sea level.
Costa Rica is a small country, only slightly larger than Estonia. The mountainous country, located between Nicaragua and Panama, has a population of just under five million. The majority, around 70%, of the country's coffee plantations are small. These farms produce a maximum of 200 sacks per year for export. Costa Rica is even known as the name of coffee in Finland, although the country is a relatively small player: it produces about one percent of all Arabica coffee in the world. For comparison, Brazil produces about a third of all Arabica.
Perla Negra producers, the Chacon couple, have been instrumental in developing Costa Rica's specialty coffee culture. Previously, Costa Rica processed most of its coffee using the washing method. In the first decade of the 2000s, the Chacones discovered that semi-washed or sun-dried coffees had more interesting flavor profiles than fully washed coffees.
Finca Sabonilla is located in the rolling Alajuela region of Costa Rica's Central Valley. Photo: Cafe Imports
Often, coffee farmers do not taste their own coffees, but rather send them directly to the world. The Chaconis acquired their own roaster and began roasting and testing the effects of different processing methods on the aromas of the coffee. The development work began at a time when specialty coffee-quality coffees were not available from Costa Rica, because there was no market or sales expertise for them.
Lehmus Roastery's raw coffee partner Cafe Imports is one of the first coffee brokers to go to Costa Rica to develop production and coffees towards quality coffee classifications.
As a result of this years-long collaboration, we now enjoy Limited Perla Negra, which takes its name from the coffee processing method.
Perla Negra is sun-dried coffee, which is first dried for 10 days on raised beds (pictured below) and then the coffee berries are packed in sacks, left to stand for 2-3 days closed and then the coffee is finally dried on the beds for a couple of days. Perla Negra means black pearl and the name refers to the appearance of the coffee bean, as the beans eventually look like black pearls.
The farm's best berries are usually selected for raised beds, as there is limited space and drying can be controlled most precisely in the beds. Photo: Cafe Imports
The coffee has been selected for us after a long and rigorous selection process that included several tasting rounds. Finland's best roaster 2020 proudly presents the coffee as a Limited Edition. Available for a limited time only, that is, as long as there is enough to roast in one bag!
Origin: Costa Rica
Region of origin: Alajuela
Car wash station: Las Lajas
Farm: Finca Sabonilla
Farmers: Oscar and Francisca Chacon
Varieties: Caturra and Catuai Arabica
Treatment: Natural, black pearl
Height: 1450 m
Harvest season: January-March
€15.90 / 200g (€79.50 / kg)
€45.90 / 600g (76.50 €/kg)
€59.90 / 1000g (€59.90 / kg)