Coffee is roasted by Ritu Coffee Roasters on Thursdays and shipped the following day.
Origin: Costa Rica
Region: Monteverde, Guanacaste
Farm: El Trapiche
Producer: Luis Diego Santamaría
Altitude: 1350 masl
Process: Carbonic Maceration
Variety: Sarchimor
Taste Profile: Blackberry, Yuzu, Cabernet-Sauvignon
El Trapiche Carbonic Maceration is one of the most intense and complex coffees in Ritu coffee collections. This coffee has high-intensity acidity, extraordinary aromatics, and sweetness with notes of cacao nibs, Yuzu, Blackberry, Cabernet-Sauvignon .
Carbonic Maceration Proccess
Since Sasa Sestic’s WBC win in Seattle in 2015, the carbonic maceration has grown in popularity as it was an experimental processing method that he used as his winning coffee. Carbonic maceration has its roots deep in the wine industry as this is a popular method when harvesting and processing wine grapes. This method is still seen as an experimental method but holds lots of opportunities to push boundaries and find more flavor from the coffee.
Carbonic maceration is essentially when coffee is macerated (fermented) in a carbon-dioxide rich environment. After being picked, coffee cherries are placed into what are typically airtight stainless steel barrels. Once placed inside, CO2 is pumped into the barrel, which then allows the coffee cherries to break down different levels of pectins. This processing typically creates bright and winey coffees with strong notes of red fruits.
Farm
El Trapiche to a farm that specializes in many types of farming like coffee, cacao, fruit, and sugar, and on top of this, they have a very successful business in tourism and do farm tours regularly. El Trapiche is located in the region of Guanacaste, and in the micro-region of Monteverde at 1350 meters above sea level. If you were to drive along to the Pacific beaches of Costa Rica, you would drive through the Guanacaste region. El Trapiche is a third-generation family farm run by Luis Diego Santamaria and his family. Their family has farmed this land since 1948 when don Iginio Santamaría Campos started to plant coffee. Fast forward to 2005, El Trapiche Tour takes form in which a demonstration of the process of coffee and sugar cane is made. Since 2015 a change towards specialty coffee started, and El Trapiche begins to transform towards new varieties of coffee with the aim of obtaining those flavors desired by specialty coffee consumers. From the beginning, the farm has coffee plants such as the traditional Caturra, Costa Rica 95, and Catuaí, but now micro-lots were planted with Geisha, Pacamara, Sarchimor, Milenium, Kenya (SL28), Ethiopian, San Roque and Wush Wush to name a few. It was also in 2015 that El Trapiche started to process and export their coffee, using the traditional washed, honey, and natural process. Due to the rise of fermentation processes, El Trapiche started with controlled fermentation in 2018 and now they master aerobic, anaerobic, and Carbonic Maceration processes.