A new Loveshack is always an exciting thing for us here at Heart & Graft HQ. That soft rounded profile, medium body and juicy sweetness just means a coffee you can drink all day long. At the moment we are super lucky and have two brilliant Loveshack style coffees in the range to offer you, our Brazil Monte Carmelo can be found here if you want to learn about this coffee. For my money and an interesting comparison I would buy a bag of each and try side by side to see how different Loveshack coffees can be from one another but still have an underlying theme flowing through them.

Onto the Don Claudio though! This coffee comes from COOPEAGRI cooperative, who are situated in the town of San Isidro De El General in San Jose Province. This coffee is a cooperative lot. This means that rather than being from a particular farm this coffee is made up of some of the best cupping coffees from multiple producers and farmers within the cooperative group. This kind of coffee is something we like to offer alongside smaller microlots from specific farms. We like them as they give an expression of how a cooperative grows coffee as a whole group, from which you can then begin to explore smaller and smaller lots from the different producers in that group. Think of the Don Claudio coffee as a gateway coffee to the work of COOPEAGRI, a group we hope to explore more and work with well into the future.

The coop themselves place a huge emphasis on being able to produce their coffees as sustainably as possible, whilst also ensuring their producers reap the benefits of their hard work and efforts. As one of the worlds most bio diverse countries Costa Rican governmental and coffee agency officials are very aware that increasing the amount of sustainable coffee produced by the country is only going to be beneficial into the future. Established in the early 60's COOPEAGRI have expanded from an initial 391 producers to over 5000 to date. Focus on reducing water use for washing coffees by utilising rainwater along side increasing use of raised beds rather than mechanical  dryers for drying coffee means that each bean creates less negative environmental impacts. Where mechanical dryer are used the machinery and motors have been upgraded to ensure that this machinery is as efficient as possible means that those negative impacts are mitigated even further. The cooperative take an active stance in working with NAMA workshops to ensure they are up to date with the latest developments and techniques to ensure environmental impacts that contirbute directly to climate change are either removed, reduced or planned to do so in the future.

Before we do that all important "what does it taste like?!" bit let's just address how to brew this coffee. This one is not for espresso. The roast profile and character of it just doesn't suit that way of brewing. This one is all about slow brewing on filter applications. Our go to for it is the Sage Precision Brewer (which you can also get from us just drop an email to wholesale@heartandgraft.co.uk) 

Taste wise this is classic Costa Rican in it's profile. Insanely clean and well balanced, with that lovely intense sweetness we almost expect from coffees from CR. Fragrance wise this one gives off a beautiful orange peel mixed with caramel vibe when ground fresh. It's got a hint of biscuity/buttery/nutty character that kind of foxed us at first. James zoned in on malted notes and that's what it gives off on closer analysis. In the brew that orange peel note turns deeper and richer, more like candied orange peel and this gives way to a luscious golden raisin sweetness that is stunning. The acidity is not aggressive, steering clear of citrus and more towards that lovely soft rounded acidity of drying or dried fruit. Top this all off with a lovely dollop of peanut brittle aftertaste that seem to linger and you've got a coffee you'll want to brew a gallon of and then another. 

Use 82g of coffee per 1200ml of water through your sage precision filter brewer and you'll get the most delicious structured brew. All the sweetness and balance alongside a wonderful rounded finish. Play around with the various settings on the sage to see which way of brewing you prefer, we love it on gold setting. Best thing is you'll have over a litre to enjoy with pals!

This ratio of coffee can be scaled to suit your filter brewer at home, your french press or any other filter method.

Another recipe we are loving at the moment is using our Clever Dripper. Use 18g of filter ground coffee. Brew using 250g of clean fresh water just off the boil. Allow to steep for two minutes before allowing a 1 minute draw down into the cup. The body starts really clean and is sweet caramel all the way. This evolves into a beautiful peanut like taste profile. This then leads into a medium long finish that highlights those raisin and orange zest notes.

Loveshack: Costa Rica Don Claudio

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Loveshack: Costa Rica Don Claudio