LILO - COE 2025 #8 Leoncio Manuel Antonio Barrantes Zuniga | Costa Rica - Natural - San Roque

LILO Coffee Roasters is located in Osaka, Japan

From LILO

【Cupping Comment】  

① Gorgeous grape and strawberry flavors.

② A variety of sweet, fruit jelly–like notes, led by pomegranate.

③ A lingering, candy-like finish reminiscent of tropical sweets.

Leoncio: A Farm Passed Down Through the Family

Located at around 1,600 meters above sea level in Naranjo, Costa Rica’s West Valley, Leoncio is run by Manuel Antonio Barrantes Zúñiga and his family. He inherited the land from his grandfather and named the farm Leoncio in his honor. Today, his wife and three daughters also take part in its daily work.

Leoncio won first place in Costa Rica’s Cup of Excellence in 2015 and has continued to earn recognition in the years since. This lot placed eighth in the Traditional Honey & Natural Processes category of the 2025 competition.

San Roque: SL28 Grown in Costa Rica

This lot is San Roque, the name under which Kenyan SL28 has been registered and cultivated in Costa Rica. At Herbazú, Antonio Barrantes planted SL28 in 2010, registered under the name San Roque.

The cup offers the juicy fruit character and generous body associated with SL28. Our head roaster, Keita, found the overall quality of Costa Rica’s 2025 Cup of Excellence particularly impressive. This Leoncio stood out for the quality of its natural processing—a special lot we invite you to take your time exploring.

Herbazú: Care from Cultivation to Processing

Leoncio’s coffee is processed at Cafetalera Herbazú, a family-run micromill established in 2000–2001 and one of Costa Rica’s early pioneers of the model. Processing coffee from their own farms allows the family to oversee quality throughout cultivation and processing.

Although Manuel personally favors washed coffees, he chose a natural process for this San Roque lot. Encouraged by growing interest in carefully produced naturals, he explored a different expression of his coffee—and earned a place among the Cup of Excellence winners.