Costa Rica Tarrazú San Diego Lactic Anaerobic

High in the Talamanca mountains of central Costa Rica sits Tarrazu, the country's most celebrated coffee canton. This lot from the historic San Diego Mill takes those famous beans and runs them through a sealed, oxygen-starved lactic fermentation. The result reads more like a dessert than a cup of coffee.

OriginCosta Rica RegionTarrazu Elevation1,450-1,750m ProcessLactic Anaerobic, Semi-Washed VarietyCaturra, Catuai The Source

Tarrazu, Costa Rica's Highland Benchmark

Tarrazu earned Denomination of Origin status in 2019, a formal recognition of a profile that buyers have chased for decades: fine acidity, a full body, and remarkable clarity. The canton sits in the Talamanca Sierra, where red clay soils, humid air rolling off the Pacific, and warm tropical days give way to cool nights. That swing in temperature slows the cherries as they ripen, building density and sugar in beans grown at high altitude between 1,450 and 1,750 meters.

The Caturra and Catuai trees here are well suited to the terrain. Both are compact, productive Bourbon descendants that hold up to Tarrazu's wind and rain while concentrating the sweetness this region is known for. Nearly all coffee from these slopes grades out as Strictly Hard Bean, the marker of dense, slow-grown lots from elevation. Costa Rica grows less than one percent of the world's coffee, yet its insistence on quality over volume keeps regions like Tarrazu near the top of the specialty market.

The Craft

Lactic Fermentation at Beneficio San Diego

Beneficio San Diego, founded in 1888, is one of the most innovative mills in Costa Rica. For this lot, the team selected super-ripe cherries with high sugar readings, then sealed them in tanks without oxygen and without added water. In that closed environment, lactic acid bacteria take over the fermentation, converting fruit sugars into lactic acid and deepening both aroma and sweetness. To understand how this differs from a clean wash or a traditional natural, see our guide to processing methods.

After fermentation, the coffee is sun-dried to lock in the flavors built during that controlled ferment. We roast it to City+ in small batches at our Virginia Beach roastery, stopping short of any roast that would bury the creamy texture and fruit. The goal is to let the processing speak: a cup that is unmistakably Tarrazu, reshaped by the ferment.

Strawberry Vanilla Milk Chocolate Cream BodyFull AcidityMild-Bright The Cup

Creamy, Fruit-Forward, and Sweet

The lactic process shows up first as texture: a round, creamy mouthfeel that coats the palate. Ripe strawberry leads the flavor, layered over milk chocolate and a soft vanilla sweetness. The acidity is gentle and bright rather than sharp, a lactic tang that keeps the cup lively without cutting against the body.

As it cools, the sweetness lingers and the fruit settles into a smooth, dessert-like finish. This is a coffee built for slow sipping, where each cooler sip pulls another note forward.

Find Your Fix

Brew it on a Chemex or V60 to spotlight the strawberry and cream, or pull it as espresso for a concentrated, chocolatey shot. Drip and Aeropress both bring out its full body, and a cold brew turns the fruit syrupy and sweet. Browse the rest of our coffee beans and find your fix.

Roasted in small batches at our Virginia Beach roastery.

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

Virginia Beach, VA