Don Mayo, Costa Rica - Drop Coffee Roasters
Melted butter
Update: Discount due to roasting date: November, last year. A good opportunity to try this beauty at a great price. - 30%
ORIGIN : Costa Rica - Leon Cortes in Terrazu
ROASTING: Omni Roast
PRODUCER : Héctor Bonilla Cruz - La Loma Farm
ALTITUDE : 1600-1800 meters
VARIETY : Catuaí
PROCESS : Yellow Honey, meaning about 50% of the mucilage layer remains on the coffee cherry when it dries.
FLAVOR NOTES : A well-structured cup with a caramel-like aroma. Flavors of orange peel and simple cream and medium acidity of red grapes. It has a medium body and an almost silky mouthfeel.
We love Costa Rican coffee. This coffee is located near the La Pira farm in Terrazu, which we also buy from. We've visited Don Mayo many times over the last decade, but there are a lot of details to note here; Don Mayo is the name of the processing station and La Loma is the farm next door and Héctor Bonilla Cruz is the producer behind it.
Don Mayo won the Cup of Excellence 2020 with a coffee from La Loma, although not with this coffee, but with the Gesha from here. Producer Héctor Bonilla Cruz and his family are the flagship mill and farm of every producer around the world.
Héctor has five decades of experience in coffee production and has passed it on to his entire family. Their team approach and commitment to quality is truly impressive.
About Héctor Bonilla Cruz and the Don Mayo mill
Héctor started growing coffee at a young age. At the age of 14, he planted a small number of coffee plants on a small plot of land owned by his family. He delivered them by hand to large cooperatives. Over the next six years he increased the number of plants and was able to combine his work with nursing studies. He worked during the day and studied at night. Hector combined nursing and coffee until he was 37, when he worked in a managerial position at Llano Bonito RL Coffee Growers Cooperative. When he saved enough money to devote himself fully to coffee, he decided to devote himself exclusively to growing his coffee plantations and increasing his professionalism. In 2004 he founded his own project, Don Mayo. It was a micro-mill where he could process his own coffee and use the skills he had learned to secure the family's future. Just four years later, he took third place at the Costa Rican Cup of Excellence and bettered that in 2009 when he took overall victory. Afterwards, his daughter won the Costa Rican Barista Championship twice. Don Mayo also won the Cup of Excellence 2020 with a coffee from La Loma, although not with this coffee, but with the Gesha from here.
sustainability
For Héctor, climatic fluctuations and plant diseases are the biggest challenges in coffee. Meeting roasters who buy his coffee is the most beautiful moment for him and also helps him market the coffee, get more money for the product and pay the workers more.
Limited access to water is also an obstacle. The coffee cherries are yellow honey, which means they are processed without water. About 50% of the mucilage remains on the coffee cherry when it dries.