Sumava Monte Lourdes Villa Sarchi

The story behind the coffee

Sumava de Lourdes is a Cup of Excellence-winning farm based in the West Valley of Costa Rica. It's owned by Francisco Meña who has been an integral figure in the success of Costa Rica's specialty coffee production. He is the owner of Exclusive Coffees, an exporting group in Costa Rica.

Since 2015, we've visited Sumava and been able to see its growth and development firsthand. In 2015, they had a small depulper where they were doing their honey coffees, now they have a sophisticated wet mill, with the capacity to handle both farms within the umbrella of Sumava de Lourdes, 'Llano Bonito' and 'Monte Lourdes'.

Llano Bonito is an eastern slope focused on the production of Villasarchi. Monte Lourdes is a western and southern slope where you'll find the micro mill, Sumava de Lourdes, the nursery filled with fascinating coffee genetics as well as some production of more exotic varieties.

In 2016, Sumava won the Costa Rica Cup of Excellence, an incredibly prestigious award. The coffee they submitted to the competition was an incredibly rare coffee cultivar called Ethiopia H3. This Sumava Monte Lourdes Villa Sarchi is from a Honey-style coffee, which comes from the “reposado” process. After years of experimentation, this involves leaving the picked cherries in bags overnight. This resting of the cherries, before they go to be de-pulped, helps develop full fruit flavors in the cup. This coffee is a blend of red fruits. Softened by a lactic yogurt-type acidity yet a full body and yellow plums in the finish.