About This Coffee
In 1961, 267 producers in Heredia, Costa Rica united to form the Cooperativa de Caficultores de Heredia, Libertad RL (Coope Libertad). The cooperative was the first collective company to focus on coffee production in the Heredia region, and through membership, farmers were able to help themselves and their peers combat economic hardship.
Today, the cooperative focuses on improving coffee quality and quality of life for their members and their communities. They’ve made great strides since the 1960s and have achieved Fair Trade Certification. The Fair Trade social premium of 20 cents per pound of coffee sold is reinvested in member communities through three programs: technical growing assistance, financing and health education.
Cultivation
Coope Libertad channels Fairtrade social premiums into 3 areas where it directly supports farmers and their families. They focus on agricultural extension work, aid with financing and community health.
Experts regularly visit member farms where they help farmers find the best solutions to disease and pest problems, increase yields and renovate fields. They also sample soil and foliage to determine the best scientifically-directed methods for cultivation based on each farm’s individual needs.
Harvest & Post-Harvest
Farmers selectively handpick cherry and deliver it to collection centers that are positioned across the regions that Coope Libertad serves. After intake, cherry is brought to the cooperative’s processing center on La Isla de Moravia.
Cherry is pulped upon delivery. Strict government laws protect the environment and water health, and proper water filtration systems are extremely expensive. As a result, most cooperatives and wet mills use a mechanical demucilager, instead of wet fermentation and washing, to remove remaining mucilage. Mechanical demucilagers use centrifugal force to remove remaining mucilage and reduce water runoff.
After this, parchment is fermented for a short period to break down any remaining mucilage. Then, parchment is pre-dried in vertical drying silos. The vertical position enables excess water to drip out of the dryer. Pre-dried parchment is then fully dried in horizontal drying cylinders. The dryers maintain consistent temperatures throughout the drying process.
Dedicated to meaningful and sustained environmental sustainability, Coope Libertad composts coffee pulp and other solids from the mill into organic fertilizer. The fertilizer is then used to regenerate a stretch of land near the mill that has been eroded and depleted over time.
Strictly Hard Bean (SHB)
Strictly Hard Bean (SHB) specifies the altitude at which the coffee was grown. A coffee must be grown at 1,200 meters above sea level or higher to be considered SHB. The higher altitude and lower temperatures mean that the coffee fruit matures more slowly, creating a denser bean.
European Preparation (EP)
EP stands for European Preparation. EP beans are Screen 15+ with a low defect tolerance.
About Coope Libertad
The cooperative provides 3 kinds of financial support to members: harvest pre-financing, farm renovation funding and emergency funding.
Pre-financing helps farmers cover costs associated with production before they receive income from the sale of their harvest. Pre-financing can cover labor costs, inputs or other materials, and services required to produce a successful harvest.
Financing for farm renovations helps farmers work on long-term improvements to their farms and coffee quality. With Coope Libertad’s help, farmers can renew rootstock, expand facilities and much more.
Finally, emergency funds support farmers facing unexpected costs related to their health or that of their families. Funds can be used to pay for medical care and other necessary services.
In addition to caring for the immediate well-being and success of their members, Coope Libertad also lays the groundwork to help their members have even more successful futures. Their health education program includes talks about common health problems such as diabetes and high cholesterol.
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.