Costa Rica Coffee Farm

In Tarrazú, there is a cooperative that runs like a clock — a very big and well-calibrated clock. With more than 4,650 members from Tarrazú, a canton in the province of San José, Cooperativa de Caficultores de Tarrazú RL (Coopetarrazu) is designed to receive cherries from many small farms and consistently process their coffee into a well-balanced regional blend.

Every processing day, a parade of vehicles of all sizes — from pickup trucks to dump trucks — arrive in the late afternoon full of cherries picked during the day. The cherries are quickly weighed and placed in a large tank of water to remove less dense beans. Next, they are depulped and pass through a demucilager that mechanically strips the mucilage from the beans, all within a recycling water system. The washed beans travel down from the wet mill through a long elevated conveyor belt into a machine that uses forced air to shed remaining water, then pass through a series of dryers to gently reduce moisture to 11 percent — all within just over 72 hours, with not a minute wasted.

After processing, the coffee is rested for at least a month in silos, then milled for export through an equally impressive series of machines dedicated to dehulling and sorting green beans by weight and color. Coopetarrazu also operates a profitable agriculture supply store and grocery store, and cooperative members have access to low-interest loans and healthcare.

Our Costa Rica coffee is sourced from San Marcos de Tarrazú, San José, grown at 1,300–1,600 meters on volcanic loam soil. The Caturra and Catuai varieties are fully washed and sun-dried, producing a med-light roast with bright, complex notes of pineapple juice, blackberry, and almond.