Meet Our Newest Coffee!

Heads up coffee fans! We are proud to announce the latest addition to our specialty coffee line..

Meet Alajuela (pronounced: ala-hwela), Black Honey.

Our exotic new coffee brings an unparalleled level of complexity to your cup.  This unique bean is sourced from a single 22-acre family farm in the Alajuela province of San Ramon, Costa Rica, which is owned by Olman Vargas.   

Black Honey refers to the coffee-drying/curing process. In an upcoming post, I'll explain the many different processing methods in more detail, and how they affect the final flavor of your brewed coffee.  For now, I will say this: the black-honey process is the most labor intensive of all coffee-curing methods. 

With the black-honey drying process, extreme care is taken at every step, starting with picking only the ripest cherries.  The outer skin of the coffee cherry is removed, but much of the sticky fruit (mucilage) remains on the beans as they dry in covered beds.  That stickiness is where the term "honey" comes from; there is no actual honey used in the process.  The beans must be rotated or raked several times per hour to ensure they dry slowly and evenly.  During the fermenting and drying, some of the flavors of the fruit are absorbed into the bean creating...magic.

Because of the amount of work involved, black-honey processed coffees are only available in limited quantities and at certain times of year.  After a few weeks of tweaking our roast, we settled in a place just past the grassy herbal flavors of a light roast into a lighter medium that we feel really highlights the unique flavors this bean brings to the table. Hints of black tea, mango and caramel are prominent.

While it's outstanding as a pour-over, we’ve found that this coffee tastes significantly different with each different brewing method, so we encourage you to experiment and let us know what method you like best for brewing this culinary gift from Costa Rica.

And to help you get started, we'll send a free 3 oz. sample of Alajuela to the first two subscribers who email us at julia@westoniacoffee.com. Good luck!

We’re thrilled to offer this unique coffee to our friends while it lasts.