Our "Can I top you off" series speaks to our dark roast lovers. This unique blend of peaberries & a naturally processed Costa Rican blend is just right for a smooth cup in the morning. This blend has natural creaminess & sweetness that requires no additions or subtractions. Now in its third generation and currently owned by Roberto Jimenez, El Cedral has been at the heart of coffee production in Miramar de Puntarenas for many decades. The name translates to ‘Mountains of Gold’ referring to the lush balance of the ecosystems, soil, and the neighbouring Pacific Ocean. Cedral trees are planted to create a forest for the coffee to promote biodiversity and support slow fruit development. Within the rows of coffee, it is common to see the occasional banana tree and to hear cows moo in the distance as livestock is a profitable industry in this region. Although El Cedral has produced coffee for a number of years, the farm does, however, face several challenges. These include a lack of qualified worker, negative effects from climate change, coffee leaf rust and aging coffee trees. Roberto is working to combat these challenges by planting new fruit trees such as bananas that protect the coffee and diversifying income for the farm. After the coffee is carefully hand-picked, it is then sorted for quality purposes before transitioning to the pre-fermentation process. This is when the coffee cherries rest for 24 hours before being moved to a greenhouse for pre-drying. As this coffee is naturally processed, the skin remains intact on the seed as it dries. From the greenhouse, the cherries are then moved to a concrete patio lined with a plastic sieve. They bask in the sun for 22 days before reaching a moisture content of less than12%. To ensure the correct moisture content is met, a specialized operator measures the humidity with a specific instrument that provides the necessary data to reveal the completion of the drying process. From here, the coffee is trucked 32 km to the dry mill to be hulled and rested for export.