Costa Rica Tarrazú San Diego Jaguar Honey

Tarrazú produces roughly 12% of Costa Rica's coffee but consistently earns the country's highest cup scores. This lot comes from the Beneficio San Diego mill, also known as Jaguar Mill, in the Los Santos valley. Red honey processing gives it the fruit-forward sweetness Tarrazú is known for.

OriginCosta Rica RegionTarrazú VillageSan Diego de León, Los Santos ProcessRed Honey MillBeneficio San Diego (Jaguar Mill) RoastCity+ The Source

Tarrazú's Los Santos valley

Tarrazú sits in Costa Rica's central highlands, south of San José. The Los Santos valley is named for its three main towns and produces the country's most consistently high-scoring coffees. Volcanic soil, cool nights, and reliable dry seasons during harvest create growing conditions that favor slow cherry maturation.

Beneficio San Diego, operating under the Jaguar Mill name, is a specialty micromill in San Diego de León. The mill sources from smallholder farms across the valley and handles processing with the precision specialty coffee demands. The jaguar namesake honors Costa Rica's national conservation story: the species symbolizes the country's commitment to protecting biodiversity in the regions where coffee is grown.

The Craft

Red honey: the middle path

The honey process originated in Costa Rica as a balance between washed and natural methods. Red honey retains roughly 75% of the fruit mucilage on the bean after depulping removes the outer cherry skin. That sticky layer dries slowly on raised beds over about two weeks, caramelizing the sugars into the bean.

Red honey sits between yellow (lighter, cleaner) and black (deepest, winey) on the honey spectrum. The result is a coffee with pronounced fruit sweetness and structural clarity: caramel and stone-fruit notes build through the cup without the wildness a natural can develop at warmer elevations.

Caramel Orange Milk Chocolate Brown Sugar Body Medium-Full Acidity Mild-Bright The Cup

Caramel sweetness with a clean chocolate finish

Caramel opens the cup with a rich, honeyed sweetness from the red honey process. Orange brightness follows, lifting the mid-palate without becoming sharp. Brown sugar fills out the body with rounded warmth, and milk chocolate closes the cup cleanly. The medium-full body holds everything in balance — substantial without weight, approachable without flatness.

Find Your Fix

V60 and Chemex bring out the clean caramel brightness; a 1:16 ratio at 200°F works well. Aeropress at 1:14 with a 2-minute steep concentrates the chocolate notes. Drip brewing is forgiving here — the medium-full body and mild acidity hold up across methods. Browse our current coffee selection for similar Central American profiles.

Roasted in small batches at our Virginia Beach roastery.

Packaged in reusable glass mason jars, returned locally for reuse. Solar-roasted.

Virginia Beach, VA