Epic Bean Costa Rica La Amistad

Epic Costa Rica La Amistad

Amistad means “friendship” in Spanish and Hacienda La Amistad, brought to us by Epic Bean Coffee in Maryland, certainly fosters friendship between the land and its coffee and other crop production. You can buy this coffee directly from Epic Bean for just $12/12 oz bag.

Hacienda La Amistad is located in the Talamanca mountain range in southern Costa Rica, near the border with Panama. The farm also borders the La Amistad International Park, preserved as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Hacienda La Amistad has been family-owned and run for generations and they maintain much of this large plantation of more than 20,000 acres as forest and unplanted conservation area. The farm uses no pesticides and is mostly self-sufficient. [ref]http://www.interamericancoffee.com/costa-rica-organic-la-amistad/[/ref] La Amistad is a washed coffee grown in the 1200-1500masl range and consists of Caturra and Catuai varietals.

This is another recent coffee that I really enjoy and yet don’t have a ton to say about. I hope you understand that more descriptors doesn’t always translate to better coffee… In any case, this one from Epic Bean has a light to medium body and is super clean brewed on my Gino dripper (1:15 ratio, 4:00 total brew time, Kalita 185 filter). The balance on this coffee is definitely toward sweetness, but there is a soft acidity also present that brightens up each sip and mainly hit the sides of my tongue.

This acidity is very light and complements the coffee really well. I would call it “malic” acidity, so apple-like in its feel on my tongue. The fact that it is so light and also sweet reminds me of the acidity from a nice, sweet Fuji or Honeycrisp apple. I also got hints of warming spices, maybe a little pepper (more as it cooled) in the flavor. I won’t go so far as to say I tasted a specific spice flavor, but it was more of a feel than anything, like ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg, although I didn’t actually taste any of those spices outright.

There is a perfect balance between this light and clean acidity and sweetness in this coffee. Even that is light and clean, with a short aftertaste and a mild mouthfeel. Some sweet coffees can be heavy on the palate or leave an sugary “goober” in my throat, but this one is just light, clean, pleasant and incredibly drinkable.

This is the last of my coffee samples from Epic Bean and I am impressed. This one was definitely the lightest and cleanest of the three (Mexican High Grown and Honduras COMSA Marcala) and all three would rank as what I call “coffee coffees.” Simple, straightforward, very drinkable, no off-flavors. Really great job!