Strawberries, tropical fruit, and milk chocolate? “Berramisu” sounds a bit like a dessert, and in a cup, it’s not far off. This Costa Rican coffee from the Dutch DAK Coffee Roasters is sweet, distinctly fruity, and beautifully syrupy. The flavor opens with a juicy strawberry note, complemented by the sweeter character of tropical fruit. A subtle note of milk chocolate emerges in the finish, pleasantly rounding out the entire profile and giving it a creamier, dessert-like touch. The result is a rich and sweet pour-over with pronounced fruitiness, a fuller texture, and a flavor that develops beautifully as it cools.
Behind these beans is producer Diego Robelo and the well-known Costa Rican farm Aquiares Estate in the Turrialba region, where coffee trees grow at an elevation of around 1,200 meters above sea level. DAK returns to Aquiares’ production regularly, and this time they selected the Esperanza variety. This variety is a hybrid of Sarchimor T5296 and the Ethiopian landrace ET25, combining genetics from different parts of the coffee-growing world. It is precisely this unusual combination that gives Berramisu its distinctly sweet and fruity profile, which pleasantly sets it apart from more classic Costa Rican coffees.
Berramisu undergoes natural processing, in which the coffee cherries are dried whole, along with their pulp. The beans thus remain in contact with the fruit for a long time during drying, which often results in greater sweetness, more intense fruitiness, and a fuller body. In this coffee, the natural processing method is beautifully reflected in its syrupy texture and pronounced fruity character, while a milk-chocolate note keeps the entire cup pleasantly rounded. When brewed with a filter, you’ll enjoy a sweet, juicy, and quite distinctive Costa Rican coffee that will particularly appeal to those who enjoy fruitier and slightly more playful coffees.
- Producer: Aquiares Estate
- Altitude: 1,200 m above sea level