Blind Assessment:

Deeply sweet, richly wood-framed. Watermelon candy, sandalwood, narcissus-like flowers, toasted pecan, maple syrup in aroma and cup. Bittersweet structure; crisp, satiny mouthfeel. Aromatic wood leads in the short finish, while notes of watermelon candy (think Jolly Rancher) and sweet florals resurface in the long.

Notes:

Produced by Martin Urena of La Chumeca Farm entirely from trees of the respected Red Catuai variety of Arabica. This is a dry-processed or “natural” coffee, meaning the beans were dried inside the fruit rather than after the fruit has been removed, as is the case with wet-processed or “washed” coffees. Caffè Luxxe is an Italian-inflected artisan roaster and retailer that emphasizes both its coffee knowledge and precision and its straightforward lack of pretension. Visit www.caffeluxxe.com or call 310-394-2222 for more information.

The Bottom Line: A paradoxical natural-processed Costa Rica coffee with big sweetness (fruit and florals) and rich aromatic wood notes in equal measure.