"Upon grinding, the aroma presents citrus, grapefruit, black tea, and caramel. On the palate, black tea, cranberries, yuzu, and figs lead, followed by bergamot, soft white florals, and a lingering peach note. The cup is sweet, smooth, and gently rounded."
La Lia is a Costa Rican micro-mill project led by Luis and Oscar Monge in Santa Rosa de León Cortés. The Monge family has become closely associated with precise small-lot processing, especially honey and natural methods that depend on careful drying control. Their work is built around farm-level separation, selective harvesting, and close management of each stage after picking. La Lia operates with the discipline of a micro-mill, allowing the producers to adjust processing according to variety, weather, and target profile. This Ethiope 47 Red Honey lot reflects their ability to combine distinctive genetics with a measured Costa Rican honey process.
The coffee comes from the Tarrazú region, one of Costa Rica’s most established highland coffee areas. This lot is associated with Santa Rosa de León Cortés, where the farms sit at approximately 1,900 to 2,000 metres above sea level. The elevation supports slow cherry maturation, helping the coffee develop sweetness, density, and a more defined structure. Tarrazú’s mountain climate brings cooler nights, bright daytime conditions, and well-drained soils suited to high-quality Arabica production. These conditions give La Lia a strong terroir base for a red honey lot that depends on both ripe fruit and stable drying.
Ethiope 47 is the selected variety for this coffee, a cultivar valued for its Ethiopian genetic background and distinct aromatic potential. In Costa Rica, varieties with Ethiopian lineage are often cultivated in small separations because of their lower familiarity and strong sensory identity. Ethiope 47 can show a more delicate structure than conventional production varieties, which makes careful harvesting and drying especially important. At La Lia, the variety is used as a platform for clarity, sweetness, and layered fruit expression. Its character works well with red honey processing, where mucilage contact can build texture without covering the variety’s finer qualities.
For this Red Honey process, only ripe cherries are selectively harvested and sorted before pulping. The skin is removed while a significant amount of mucilage is left attached to the parchment. The coffee is then dried slowly with this sticky fruit layer intact, allowing sugars from the mucilage to influence body, sweetness, and aromatic depth. Red honey processing requires close control of turning, airflow, and drying speed to avoid excessive fermentation while still preserving fruit intensity. Once the parchment reaches stable moisture, the coffee is rested before final milling and preparation.
La Lia Ethiope 47 Red Honey is shaped by the meeting of Ethiopian-linked genetics, high-elevation Tarrazú terroir, and the Monge family’s micro-mill precision. The process sits between the clarity of washed coffee and the density of natural processing, using mucilage contact as the main driver of texture and sweetness. Its profile is built through gradual drying rather than heavy fermentation intervention. The result is a coffee that shows La Lia’s restrained but expressive style, where variety, altitude, and honey processing remain clearly connected. It is a composed Costa Rican lot with a strong sense of origin and a distinct varietal identity.
Variety : Ethiope 47
Altitude : 1,900–2,000 MASL
Process : Red Honey
Origin : Santa Rosa de León Cortés, Tarrazú