Skip to product information
1 of 8

Scenery Coffee

Costa Rica - Infinity SL-28 Natural

Costa Rica - Infinity SL-28 Natural

We've brought in 3 very special lots this year from Costa Rican exporter Selva - this first one to reach mainline release is from Jaime Cardenas' fantastic wet mill, Infinity. This SL-28 cultivar was grown, processed  (as a natural) and milled by Jaime himself, and tastes to us like purple in a cup. It’s with good reason that Jaime has had multiple top 20 finishes in the Costa Rican Cup of Excellence, and we’re stoked to share this unique lot - sitting side by side with the current season of Kenyan coffee, where the SL-28 gets its heritage.

Regular price £11.00
Regular price Sale price £11.00
Sale Sold out
Tax included. Shipping calculated at checkout.
Size
We presently roast on Wednesdays - check back in Thursday AM for re-stocks
View full details

Brew Guide:

Best Brewed with: Filter


Super interesting to roast, we’re slowing this one down a touch while keeping a shorter development - trying to find the best sweet spot for the berry & currant notes we love in this coffee.


Best rested for: 3-4 weeks


For Filter: 93°C & 62g/L to concentrate the jamminess. Can updose further. Might need a slightly finer grind


For Espresso: 18g in to 45g out, 28-32s for something classic, or go 50g+ and 20s turbo style. Needs rest


We’re tasting: Blackcurrant jam, poached rhubarb, lemon cola. Super sweet, jammy - so purple. As it cools it's even more expressive & the berry note shifts more towards strawberry. Ultra-clean

Traceability:

Country of Origin:
Costa Rica
Region:
Lourdes, Naranjo de Alajuela
Farm:

Farm: Sin Limites
Wet Mill: Infinity

Producer:
Jaime & Maibel Cardenas
Variety:
SL-28 - “San Roque Kenia”
Elevation:
1550 MASL
Process:

Natural: Ripe cherries collected at Sin Limites and carefully transported to the Infinity wet mill, with continual sorting post delivery.

Dried on raised beds in a medium thick layer (which promotes slightly extra dry fermentation in the early stages) with movement every couple of hours. Slow dried over 1 month.

Milled at Jaime’s own dry mill.

Import Partner:
Selva
Harvest
Crop 23/24, Arrived UK September 24

 

The Story

In the early 2000s, coffee prices dropped to record lows, leading to a crisis among the coffee producers of Costa Rica.  In response, smallholder farmers began investing in “micro-mills” to process their own coffee and focus on speciality quality, oft directly to buyers or speciality importers, meeting the growing demand of third wave coffee, and receiving better prices in return.

The “micro-mill revolution” was a fundamental shift. Producers historically locked into selling cherry to massive cooperatives or multinational exporters instead gained control over the means of production and value addition at the farm level, a wave of producers investing in their own wet and dry mills allowed them to take control of processing, creating entirely new possibilities for quality and experimentation. 

A historic reputation for quality alongside strict regulations in profits in the value chain (overseen by the ICAFE) has always made Costa Rican coffee carry a premium price. It’s fair to say that in recent decades, many other origins have come leaps and bounds in terms of unique cup profiles, quality, and value for money - displacing the appetite for Costa Rica from many buyers looking for the best return on green pricing. Some notable exceptions occur - Diego Robelo’s Finca Aquaries commands many a fan in the UK market, for example. 

The issue of “value for money” has not gotten any easier for Costa Rica - the falling value of the Costa Rican colón against the US dollar is squeezing profits for exporters and mills, and at the same time, production costs are rising due to labor shortages, expensive fertilizers, and the impacts of climate change.

But we love the differentiated profiles we find in Costa Rica - some of the best naturals and most interesting varieties we’ve found in all of Central America all have their source in this country. So, we thought we’d go hard with our sourcing strategy for this season, our first year buying from the country. We’d look for what Costa Rica does best - interesting combinations of fermentation and cultivar. Working with Selva, a Costa Rican exporter that operates no spot position in the UK means we get to select unique coffees - only the lots that are pre-contracted make it to the market.

This first lot is a banger - Jaime Cardenas’s wet mill Infinity processes coffee from his farm, the 2.5 HA Sin Limites. Jaime has also built his own dry mill, which means complete control from cherry selection through to export preparation - - a setup that's helped land multiple top 20 Cup of Excellence places (a rigorous multi-stage blind tasting competition that sees international judges scoring the top 1% of submissions!). Jaime is growing an accession of SL-28, locally adapted to the Costa Rican climate through field trials at the neighboring Herbazu estate, and gaining the nickname “San Roque Kenia”. We thought this was the best example of the micromill revolution - meticulous end-to-end control over the production, using an unusual variety and producing a superlative & just FUN result.
We don’t look to be exclusive, but we’d be surprised if anyone else has brought this coffee in to the UK this season - Jaime only produces 200 bags a year.

Tasting like an utterly unique take on the Kenyan profile so associated with the SL varieties, but over 8000 miles apart - we’re double parking our mugs in the roastery alongside batches of Gichatha and Gatomboya, a great example of the interaction of land, human hands and genetics - and to our eyes, more than worth the cost.

Credit for additional farm & producer photography: Selva