About This Coffee
The Palmichal micro-mill sits in the Costa Rican Central Valley in the Tarrazu region. The mill began in the 2015-2016 harvest with 30 farmers participating. The mill processes coffees from Palmichal, Puriscal, Tarrazu and Frailes. With patios and elevated beds for varied kinds of drying, the mill is able to process coffees as washed conventional, a variety of grade of honey process and naturals.
The goal of the mill is to find farmers growing unique coffees all the while milling them flawlessly and delivering them to quality-conscious importers and micro-roasters. Their small-scale, artisanal model enables them to match coffees from smallholder farmers with specific quality and process requirements. Throughout the process they are able to maintain economic and physical traceability.
Harvest & Post-Harvest
Farmers bring their cherry to the mill by truck. At the mill, cherry is measured by the half fanega (approximately 46 kg). Cherry is meticulously separated and sorted on quality. First, the fruit undergoes flotation, where the cherries are covered with clean water so that half-ripe, overripe and diseased cherries float to the top while dense and ripe cherries sink to the bottom.
The second stage of separation happens as the coffee is being depulped. The machine separates the skin and pulp from the beans and then the cherries are passed through a screen called “criba.” The screen is set up to only allow ripe cherry through, the rejections get passed through another way and sold as lower grade.
The beans are then moved to the patios through a tube. On the patios, the coffee is moved every hour to enable uniform drying. The beans are dried on the patio for approximately 12 days before reaching optimum moisture content. **
Coffee in Costa Rica
Thanks to tireless innovations, the sheer number of coffee varieties, extensive technical knowledge and attention to coffee production, Costa Rica is one of the most advanced coffee producing countries in Central America.
The climatic conditions in the country also play a role in the high quality of coffee produced. There are eight coffee regions: Guanacaste, West Valley, Turrialba, Valle Central (Central Valley), Tres Rios, Brunca, Orosi, and Tarrazú, a specific part of Valle Central.
Costa Rica has also become a world leader in traceability and sustainability in coffee production. Ninety percent of the country’s 50,000 coffee farmers are smallholders, and today, many deliver their cherry to boutique micro-mills that often process cherries according to producer specs to retain single-lot or single-farm qualities.
The rise of micro-mill processing, in itself, is a relatively recent development. Prior to the early 2000s it was common for smaller producers to deliver their cherry to cooperative-owned mills. As lucrative specialty markets developed, more and more farmers began establishing mills on their own farms, giving them increased control over processing and more assurance of the ‘traceability story’ so important to the growing market segment. Mills with excess capacity would then offer their services to neighboring farmers, offering a range of processing methods for small lots along with full traceability for roasters and importers. The system has enabled Costa Rica’s small to mid-sized coffee farmers to offer a wide range of differentiated products. Today, specialty lots from Costa Rica are almost as likely to bear the name of the micro-mill where they were processed as that of the producing farm.
The typically uncertain and dry weather patterns in Costa Rica make coffee farming more difficult. Long dry seasons and unpredictable weather patterns have virtually eliminated the possibility of organic farming. Nonetheless, both the government and farmers have taken active steps to protect the environment. Some of these restrictions also inform the processing methods for which Costa Rican coffee has become known.