2018-03-04 — Costa Rica Helsar Santa Lucia

Roast Date: 4 Mar 2018
Roast Level: FC
Duration: 12m31s
First Crack @ 10m33s
Rating: ★★★★☆
1.2lb → 1.014lb; 15% Weight Loss

Sweet Maria’s

Cupping a City+ roast of Santa Lucia, the ground coffee brings a subtle sweetness to the table, bittering core coffee characteristics present with a layer of unrefined sugar sweetness mixed in. The coffee makes quite a transformation from this humble start, wet aromatics giving promise of a bigger coffee than the fragrance lets on to. A coconut and dark chocolate smell comes up in the steam, along with fruited accents that are still a little on the dull side, but their presence is definite. And the brewed coffee gives the final show, a sweet undercurrent of toffee and honey flavors, offsetting central bittersweetness. There’s life breathed into the fruited tones sensed early on in aroma, and they take form as accents of dried peach, whole dried banana, and coconut chips. Santa Lucia has lovely apple/malic acidic impression at this roast level too, which adds definition to the flavors in the cup profile. Body is noticeably juicy too, and I think taking a shade darker (Full City) will yield dense bittersweetness and viscous mouthfeel, not to mention make a good option for Costa Rican single origin espresso.

Roast Notes

Pretty cold outside when I roasted this, which I think is why it took 10m to get to first crack.

Cupping

Acidity: Light, but clear acidity.

Sweetness: Subtle, but shining through the rest of the flavor.

Mouthfeel: Oily, despite the light quality of the rest of the coffee.

Flavor: Tastes both nutty and citric. Reading the SM notes I vaguely agree with the banana and cononut chips.

Finish: Gentle and clear; no off notes and fits the flavor.

Balance: This coffee is really good. Reminds me of Salvadoran in it’s cleanliness.