This Costa Rican Šumava Black Cherry from the Czech roastery Doubleshot is definitely not a smooth Christmas classic—it’s more of a slightly wilder holiday ride. The flavor profile combines red wine, rum pralines, cacao nibs, and wild berries. The result is a juicy espresso with a slightly funky character and fresh acidity.
The coffee comes from the Czech-Costa Rican farm Finca Šumava de Lourdes in the Lourdes de Naranjo region. Behind the farm is producer Francisco Mena, with whom Doubleshot has been collaborating since 2015. Šumava de Lourdes is a model farm focused not only on quality but also on modern agronomy and more sustainable farming practices—for example, wastewater from processing is reused here, and organic material is returned to the coffee trees as fertilizer. Francisco grows dozens of varieties here, and in 2016 he won first place in the Cup of Excellence with his Geisha. This Christmas edition, however, is based on the Caturra variety.
It is the processing method that gives this coffee its slightly wilder character. Francisco calls it Black Cherry. After harvesting, the cherries are first sorted in water and then left to rest for 4 days in the shade in plastic crates. This is followed by another 4 days of drying on African drying beds, then 15 days in airtight bags, and finally a return to the drying beds, where they are dried to their final moisture content. This multi-stage process helps create an intensely sweet, fruity, and slightly fermented profile, which manifests in the cup as notes of wine, wild berries, and rum pralines.
- Producer / Farmer: Francisco Mena
- Farm: Finca Šumava de Lourdes
- Elevation: 1,670–1,750 m above sea level
- Harvest: January–March