Oscar Mendez (Genesis)

Description

fresh dates, floral, strawberry, fruit taffy

Farm

Genesis

Producer

Oscar Mendez

Region

Lourdes de Naranjo, Costa Rica

Elevation

1650 meters

Variety

Villasarchi

Process

Mechanically demucilaged & patio dried

Storage

GrainPro™

Relationship

First Year Direct Relationship

Genesis produces some of the most stunning coffee we've bought in Costa Rica -- and there's not much to go around. In total, they only produce 150 bags of coffee each year. The farm itself is relatively tiny, only 8 hectares, but dense: they grow at least five different varieties of coffee, in addition to banana trees and other cover crops.

We first met Oscar Mendez, who runs his family farm, on our buying trip in 2014 after cupping his coffee at Exclusive Coffees of Costa Rica. Unfortunately, he had already sold the entire harvest that year. We made it a priority this year to secure this coffee, and were able to purchase 5 bags of a Villasarchi seperation.

This coffee is the combination of all the right things: good genetics, elevation, healthy soil & care in processing. Like most other producers we work with in Costa Rica, they're using a mechanical demucliager to pulp the coffee, so most (but not all) fruit pulp is removed, then the coffee allowed to dry. If you're not careful, off flavors can develop from rot & fermentation, but when done well bolsters a fruit character while retaining body.

Text from Barismo's listing.