Costa Rica Finca Palmichal SHB EP is a fully-traceable community coffee produced by our NKG sister company Ceca S. A..
Ceca has been in business for over seventy-five years, resulting in relationships with producers that span geography and generations. This, along with rigorous quality control, allows Ceca to distinguish a range of qualities and profiles. Costa Rica Finca Palmichal SHB EP is one of a handful of their “Community Coffees,” targeted for its impeccable growing and picking quality as well as its distinct cup profile. Farmers who are committed to the quality demands of the Community Program are rewarded with higher premiums for their cherry.
After collections, the coffee is processed at the Palmichal micromill. It is washed, mechanically dried and sorted to ensure a consistent and high-quality profile. In this case, the beans have been sorted to SHB EP standards. SHB (Strictly Hard Bean) specifies that the coffee was grown at an altitude above 1350 meters (synonymous with SHG/Strictly High Grown) and indicates a higher cup quality than HB. Additionally, EP stands for European Preparation, which indicates the coffee has been sorted to remove any defective beans and foreign material.
More about Ceca and Beneficio Palmichal
Ceca traditionally sources a range of coffee from more than 2,000 coffee growers in the Los Santos region. The company owns an operates Beneficio Palmichal as well as a state of the art Palmichal Micro Mill built in 2015. The mills are strategically located between the Tarrazu and Central Valley Regions, providing access to fresh cherry from both areas while facilitation separation and the resulting traceability.
Mill facilities allow for the production of a variety of qualities of washed arabica, as well as some uniquely processed lots such as Costa Rica Sonora Honey Natural. Beneficio Palmichal also has a nursery program that experimented with planting 350,000 plants in 2016, using high-quality, rust-resistant varieties.
