Costa Rica Sumava Lactic Fermented Catuai & Villa Sarchi

This is a really unusual coffee. It started out as an experiment by the Sumava team 3 years ago where they first started using lactic fermentation at the farm.
So how did the lactic experiment work? Well, to start with we need to talk about the Costa Rican honey process. This is now the most common way of processing coffee cherries in Costa Rica. It involves removing the skin and some of the fruit before the beans (and the remaining mucilage or fruit pulp) are left to dry in the sun. During the drying, fermentation by yeast and bacteria (particularly lactic acid bacteria – 'LAB') break down the remaining pulp.