About This Coffee
Ricardo Calderon is a second-generation coffee farmer who has been cultivating coffee since 1975. In 2009, he built a micro-mill that the Calderon-Castillo family operate together to help them capture more of the value addition from their coffee production. Each family member, including Ricardo’s sons, Maikol and Diego, has a role that plays to their strengths and the entire process continues to cultivate passion in each family member, helping them constantly improve their processing methods and produce ever better-quality lots.
Cultivation
The family is focused on renovating and maintaining their land. Coffee trees remain on the younger side - about 8 years on average - to ensure maximum productivity. Loamy soil and high altitude of their Tarrazu farm creates ideal conditions for high quality coffee production.
Harvest & Post-Harvest
The Calderon-Castillo’s process their cherry at their micro-mill, Beneficio Los Angeles in Santa Maria de Dota, a micro-region in Tarrazu. The beneficio is powered by solar panels. After selective handpicking, cherry is brought to the micro-mill where it is sorted and ripe, red cherry is pulped. White honey processing leaves the least amount of mucilage on drying parchment. Workers rake drying parchment and remaining mucilage frequently to ensure even drying.
About Tarrazú
Tarrazú is probably the most famous coffee region in central Costa Rica. The nearby Pirris River provides water to the highland region, making it perfect for coffee production and other types of agriculture. The mountains are part of the Talamanca Sierra, which runs through Costa Rica and Panama.
The region is fueled by coffee production and export. During harvest season, the Tarrazú region sees its population grow threefold with the influx of seasonal workers. Many people’s income largely depends on coffee production.
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.