Two Rivers blew me away with their Walichu Wachu I recently reviewed, so it’s with much anticipation that I share this Perla Negra from Costa Rica with you. Let’s dive right in!
Purchase this coffee directly for $23/12oz
Reviews in this series: Ethiopia Walichu Wachu
TWO RIVERS PERLA NEGRA
Eric Yochim started Two Rivers cage and roastery in Arvada, Colorado in 2010. Arvada is northwest of Denver and, in 2010, Denver’s Novo Coffee had a struggling location there. Making a huge leap from his background in fine dining to owning a cafe and roastery, Eric decided to take over the operation! In 2015, Two Rivers expanded into the vacant location next door, doubling its capacity for customers and adding a glass partition between the roastery and service area. With a killer food menu and great coffee, the only negative comments I’ve found about Two Rivers is from Denverites wishing it was closer to the metro area! Check out my Walichu Wachu review link above and there are some links to local Denver area publications with photos and more info on Two Rivers, but I have this coffee to drink!
This morning’s coffee is Two Rivers’ Perla Negra, which I’m getting some mixed messages about as I do my research. This coffee was grown on Finca La Julia in the Central Valley of Costa Rica, and processed at the famed Las Lajas mill. Las Lajas is known as a pioneer in honey processing coffees in Costa Rica and I’ve loved every coffee I’ve ever had that Las Lajas has handled. Where my confusion is coming in is that Two Rivers’ bag says this is a Black Honey process coffee, but Perla Negra is one of Las Lajas’ natural processes, rather than a honey process. Digging a little deeper into Cafe Imports’ site, it looks like this lot is, in fact, Perla Negra natural and not a Black Honey, so perhaps it was just a misprint on the bags. Nonetheless, this is a mix of Villa Sarchi and Caturra varieties grown around 1450masl and I’m going with this being Perla Negra natural process instead of Black Honey. In the Perla Negra process, Las Lajas dries the whole coffee cherries directly in the sun for 10 days, rotating constantly, then transfers the cherries to bags for 2-3 days to be untouched before being finished on raised beds. I imagine this bagging creates a bit of fermentation, but that’s just a guess. Two Rivers gives us flavor notes of, “Lots of berry flavor with apple cider, caramel, chocolate and citrus fruit flavors; balanced and sweet with winey fruit acidity and a heavy mouthfeel.”
The dry frgrance on these grounds gives a lot of berry notes, and I get the same from the aroma from the cup. If the color deep red was an aroma, this is what it would smell like to me! Taking a sip, there is a lot of intensity of flavor here with a medium body and what feels like a blanket of flavor lying across my palate. This is a complex coffee and there’s a lot going on, but on face value it’s actually an inviting and easy drinker, too, so it offers something for the casual drinker as well as someone who wants to fall down the rabbit hole of flavors going on here. Let’s jump down that hole!
Right in the front of the sip I’m getting some tartness, lots of red berries and a lot of fruit sweetness. If I hold the coffee in my mouth for a few seconds, the tartness builds in the mid sip and really is apparent in the finish and aftertaste. This note is hard to describe, but it’s a fruity tartness, soft and round rather than being bracing or bright. There’s a sense of ripeness to slightly overripeness along with it with just a hint of ferment, too. There’s orange acidity adding to the fruit and brightness in this cup and there’s certainly a wine-like presentation to all these fruits. For as much fruitiness as this cup offers, it’s very “adult” and has a winey complexity. There’s slightly overripe strawberry in the background, orange in the middle of the sip with a little balsamic-like tartness that carries into the finish, and then more of that strawberry, some ferment and some tartness in the sweet finish and super long aftertaste. I’ve had a couple Villa Sarchi coffees that are very balsamic forward and downright vinegary in an oddly satisfying way, but this balsamic hint is just that, a hint. I’m assuming this is from the Villa Sarchi component of the coffee, but it could just as easily be from the Perla Negra processing, too. As the cup cools there is a sweet caramel base to the coffee and there are hints of dark chocolate that jump around with each sip, too.
This is a killer coffee and proof that Las Lajas’ reputation for coffee processing is well-earned. Add it to the list of coffees I’ve had from there that I love, for sure. There is a ton of complexity in this coffee yet, as I mentioned earlier, it’s still plenty accessible and has lots of easily-appreciated fruitiness, balance and sweetness for the casual drinker, too. For me, this is a coffee to be slowly sipped and appreciated, letting it cool and open up, more like wine than a cup o’ joe. Two Rivers have done a phenomenal job on the roast with this coffee, bringing out tons of nuance and character. A triumph!