Description
Producer |
Hellen Mora, La Lupa, Agropecuaria Hellen |
Region |
Leon Cortes, Tarrazu, Costa Rica |
Variety |
Caturra |
Altitude |
1700 masl |
Process
|
Anaerobic Natural |
Flavour |
Grape Soda, Sweet, Vibrant |
Importer |
Planting Costa Rica |
Agropecuaria Hellen was established by William Mora Moreno in 2017. Since then, his daughter Helena Mora has taken over most of the operation. They keep roughly 50% of their farm in tact, to maintain the natural balance of the farm. Focussing on anaerobic and natural processing, they are creating some incredible coffee!
I was lucky enough to visit in March 2023 and chose this year's lot directly at the source! Hellen is an inspiration, her coffees are bold and vibrant. At just 24 years old, she has already been producing coffee alongside her father William for 9 years. No wonder, then, that the coffees are so good!
Want us to grind your coffee?
We sell all our coffee as whole beans to preserve their freshness and to allow you to grind the coffee to suit your preferred brew method.
However, if you'd like to request that your beans are ground before we ship them to you, please add a comment on the checkout specifying the brew method that the beans should be ground for.
Brew methods:
- Pourover
- Filter Machine
- Aeropress
- Bialetti
- Espresso Machine
- French Press
Transparency
How We Buy Our Coffees
Raw Material
Raw Material are a Community Interest Company based in the UK, meaning that 100% of profits are put to work to create economic freedom for those coffee producers who are most marginalised. Driven by social objectives, the guys at Raw Material are set on bringing real change to the people who matter most! All of our coffees from Rwanda, Burundi, Timor-Leste, Colombia and Mexico are bought through Raw Material because they don't just do great social work, they also have some of the most delicious coffees out there!!!
Planting Costa Rica
Nico from Planting Costa Rica actually used to be a barista at Café Blá! Now he's importing amazing coffees from his native Costa Rica. Through his successful 2017 crowdfunding campaign, he was able to start addressing the socio-economic gap, helping small producers wanting to move into speciality growing and processing practises modernise and improve quality. We have been following the progress from the beginning, buying lots from El Bueyerito every year. The progress made in terms of quality has been amazing! Now with a wide and exciting range of partner farms, we are really excited to continue buying our Costa Rican lots from Nico. In March '23 I was lucky enough to be able to go to Costa Rica with Nico and Fatima and meet all of the producers we have been buying from and more! Costa Rica is a wonderfully green country, with a lot of positive green initiatives and government agencies helping keep the coffee trade fair for those who are most important, namely the farmers.
What does "Powered by Vits.coffee" mean?
Café Blá is owned by Jacob Henry-Foord and Alexander Vits. Jacob is head roaster for Vits der Kaffee, Alex's roastery and café.
When Stephanie made the decision to sell Café Blá, for whom we have been roasting the coffee since its opening in 2016, I (Jacob) approached Alex with the idea of taking on the café as a joint venture, specifically with the idea of moving the Vits third wave coffee selection over to the Blá brand, thus creating a new sub-brand from Vits.
So as not to confuse the loyal Vits customers, we decided to add the tagline "Powered by Vits.coffee," seeing as the coffees are roasted in the Vits roastery by the Vits head-roaster, who also just happens to be co-owner and CEO of Café Blá.
Confused? We hope not!
Put in short: Café Blá coffee is sourced and roasted by Jacob in the Vits roastery.