Brandywine Coffee Roasters - Cumbres de Poas Red Honey
$18
Pros
- Sweet
- Great flavor
- Balanced
Cons
- Ages very quickly
Today’s review is another delicious single-origin coffee that arrived courtesy of my Mistobox subscription. It’s Brandywine Coffee Roaster’s Dona Francisca & Oscar Chacon Cumbres de Poás Red Honey.
There’s a lot to uncover in that lengthy name, so let’s break it down:
- Dona Francisca and Oscar Chacon grew and processed the coffee
- Cumbres de Poás roughly translates to “The Summit of Poás” (Poás likely refers to the Costa Rican volcano of the same name)
- “Red Honey” refers to the red honey process that was used to produce this coffee
As you can probably guess from the cumbres de Poas part of the name, this coffee comes from Costa Rica, specifically the Central Valley region, where it was grown at 1500 masl.
And guess what? The Cumbres de Poas is one of my candidates for 2018’s best coffee.
Let’s take a closer look.
General Notes & Observations
Roast: LightProducers: Dona Francisca & Oscar ChaconCountry of Origin: Costa RicaRegion: Central ValleyVariety: Caturra, Catuai, Villa SarachiProcessing method: Red HoneyGrowing altitude: 1,300-1600 maslRoaster aroma notes: NoneCoffee Concierge aroma notes: BerriesRoaster tasting notes: Strawberry, tangerine, smoothCoffee Concierge tasting notes: Grape, strawberry
Equipment Used
Chemex
American Press
Behmor Connected
Kalita Wave 185
Bonavita Immersion Dripper
Brewista Variable Temperature Kettle
Breville Smart Grinder Pro
Kruve Coffee Sifter
American Weigh Scales LB-3000
Drip Coffee Experience
As mentioned in the video review, my first reaction to this coffee was an emphatic “HOLY SHIT”. Yes, it was that good.
I brewed the coffee with my Bonavita Immersion Dripper, with my grind in the 800-1600um range (courtesy of the Kruve Sifter). Using a somewhat ridiculous coffee: water recipe (28g of coffee to 240g of water) I was still able to get an amazingly balanced cup of coffee.
I was picking up a lot of grape and berry notes especially, and there was a ton of sweetness.
Summary
The Cumbres de Poas is yet another candidate for 2018 coffee-of-the-year here at The Coffee Concierge. Yes, it was that good.
I’m not sure if any of the coffee’s I’ve reviewed this year have matched this coffee’s sweetness, and I wish it was still available so that I could re-order.
Fortunately, Brandywine currently offers a nearly identical version of this coffee from the same producer, but it’s Black Honey processed instead of Red Honey Processed. In other words, the coffee gets a bit less sun and more humidity during the drying process.
I would imagine the different process results in different flavors, but I don’t think it would have any impact on the overall quality of this coffee.
So check it out while it’s still available.
You can grab the Cumbres de Poas Black Honey from Brandywine (while it’s still available) here.
Tried This Coffee? Have Questions?
If you’ve tried this coffee, let us know what you thought by leaving a review in the comments section below.
If you have questions, I’m also happy to try and answer them. Leave those below!
