EXCEPTIONAL SELECTIONS

COSTA RICA - La Estica microlot

Country: Costa Rica
Region: San Marcos de Tarrazu, San Jose
Producer: Coope Tarrazu R.L.
Farm: La Estica
Varietal: Catuai, Caturra
Altitude: 1450 - 1600m MASL
Processing Method: Natural

La Estica

La Estica is 99 hectares and was bought by Coope Tarrazú in 2013 as a farm for the cooperative.

The farm is run as a place for research and development, as well as producing specific microlots.

The coffee cherries are harvested 100% ripe, then left to dry in the sun on patios with the pulp until ready. This can take between 15 and 22 days, depending on precise weather conditions

COOPE TARRAZU RL

Coope Tarrazu RL was founded way back in 1960 and today count 4600 associates. The board of directors is still made up of farmers, and 58% of members have 2 hectares or below as the average size of their farms. Only 6% have more than 10 Hectares.

During the last 15 years, the number of partners has increased by 50% and production by 70%. Its comprehensive partner service package includes credit, preferential price payment, technical assistance, measured support and more. Coope Tarrazu also act as exporter for around 40 micromills and 5 other cooperatives across the country.

In 2012, they successfully launched the ‘Café de Comunidades’ program, which offers micro-zone coffee and distributes a prize invested in communal works. Over 10 years later we are still sourcing under this program.

Tarrazu is the only region in Costa Rica where coffee production is actually growing. The area itself accounts for 38% of the national coffee production. Around 19,000 pickers come to the area during harvest time, of which 10,000 will pick for the coop.

The co-operative provides nurseries, agronomy support and training and a whole host of services. Coffee pulp is converted into organic fertiliser, coffee trees are given to farmers to maintain crop health, and power for the office is generated from solar panels. The businesses that the coop also owns to maintain these activities – gas stations and supermarkets -also generates a reward to the cooperative members at the end of the year.

About Costa Rica

Costa Rica – the surfer’s paradise of Central America is a fairly small tropical rainforest nation bordered to the east and west by the Pacific and Atlantic oceans respectively. To the north lies Nicaragua, and to the South the Isthmus of Panama. Costa Rica, unlike some of it’s Latin American neighbours, has enjoyed a relatively peaceful and stable transition from Colonial Spanish rule to successful independent nation. Tourism features highly on its foreign exchange earners index, as do banana and coffee exports. It is also recognised as one of the most Environmentally Sustainable countries in the world.

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Flavour notes of : Rum, Orange, Toffee, Spices.

JAVA KAYUMAS

Koperasi Surya Abada Kayumas

Family-owned farms in the neighbouring villages of

Curah Tatal and Kayumas on the island of Java,

form the membership that makes up Koperasi

Surya Abada Kayumas. Based in the East Javan

regency of Situbondo, members average 2ha each,

somewhere around 1500 trees. In total, the

cooperative cover near 400 hectares. Surrounding

them, coffee is mostly grown on government

owned estates.

Three collection and processing centres are

centralized to allow members access to

processing facilities quickly. Kayumas also

produce their own organic manure from cattle,

goats, and poultry also kept by the smallholders.

Resources are pooled to the benefit of the group.

Mainly producing the traditional Giling Basah, the

co-op have recently expanded into anaerobic

naturals and wet hulled anaerobics.

With the help of Fairtrade premiums which they have

been earning since gaining certification in 2018,

organic agroforestry practices have been taught.

These provide knowledge on irrigation systems,

landslide prevention, planting distances between

trees, shade & fruit tree planting, hunting bans and

biodiversity protection. All vital in an area that

relatively remote on the volcanic slopes of the Ijen

Plateau. They also produce their own organic manure

from cattle, goats, and poultry.

Community infrastructure has also been funded in this

way, with roads, toilets, warehouses and waste tanks

all being built since 2020. Trainings are provided in

agriculture, but also wider workshops have been held

to encourage youth in coffee farming and rebalancing

gender inequalities whilst considering the cultural

diversity too. The roads have allowed motorbikes to

assist in harvest, speeding the time taken for delivery

of cherry and increasing the load per journey.

The Process

Typically producing 5-6 tonnes of cherry per hectare, smallholders deliver cherry to one of three centralised processing centres belonging to the cooperative.

Beans are cleaned and sorted, and undergo a fermentation stage in tile lined tanks.

Raised beds are used for maximum airflow and quick drying, with tarpaulins spread out for the final stages where drying is slower.

Cherries are dried to export levels at Indokom, the exporter’s milling facility where the skin and parchement is also removed.

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