Two Terrazu

terrazu-montecielo-label

Two Tarrazu

I’m not a connoisseur of coffee, but I do like good coffee so I’ve tried a number of varieties including Jamaica Blue Mountain. My favorite turns out to be a coffee from Costa Rica that we found during a visit there. They make a variety know as Tarrazu, which is flavorable without being overly powerful.

The flavor is light but savory, a bit malty and lingering without being bitter aftertaste. The coffee is grown at higher elevation in volcanic soil like Jamaican Blue mountain, and you see my favorite variety at left. This is “Montecielo” or “Sky Mountain” Tarrazu, and I highly recommend it to anyone. Starbucks’s also has a bulk Tarrazu, but in my estimation they over-roast the beans, making a wonderful coffee just another French Roast, and if you’ve drunk coffee much then you know that’s like all things French: overdone. Cooking coffee beans too long is nearly a sin in my book, it makes the coffee bitter and robs it of caffeine power. The normal French roast will have a lot less kick than almost any medium / light roast Arabica.

You can get the Montecielo blend from Cafe Britt, but I’ve yet  to find a place where you can buy it at reasonable price in bulk, so for now we get the Tarrazu from Starbuck’s at Sam’s even though they over roast the beans a tad.

The Eastern coastal jungles of Costa Rica are what most tourists see due to the cruise industry, but I recommend visiting the interior highlands or Pacific coast where the population is mostly at and where they are mostly middle class.