REGION OF ORIGIN:Tarrazu

ALTITUDE:1200 – 2100 meters

GROWING CONDITIONS: La Minita consists of about 700 acres of coffee in production over generally steep terrain. There are some 1,750,000 trees planted. A modern infrastructure of roads, employee housing, workshops, and pay and receiving stations allow efficient and careful cultivation and harvesting of the coffee.

VARIETIES:Typica and caturra

Costa Rica La Minita Del Sol

CUP CHARACTERISTICS

WHY SUN DRIED?

This coffee has powerful sweetness and a more velvety, plush body than mechanically dried La Minita.  The intensity of the cup is impressive, and ages more gracefully throughout the crop year as a result of the slow sun-drying process.  The flavor nuances you expect from La Minita are all there: the acidity and flavor of freshly squeezed orange juice mingle with the sweet sugary taste of maple syrup. Exquisitely clean and clear.  A remarkable coffee.

PROCESSING NOTES (Courtesy of William McAlpin, proprietor La Minita Estate)

SUSTAINABILITY NOTES

After the coffee is picked we transport it to the beneficio, where it begins a series of transformations that eventually turn it into the hard green coffee beans that your specialty roaster purchases. The coffee must be peeled, fermented, washed, dried, peeled again, polished, mixed, and finally bagged for shipment. At each step of the way it is being consistently sorted for quality. Every part of the process is critical. A mistake in judgment or a lapse in attention could spoil a lot of coffee.

Hacienda La Minita was “green” long before being “green” was fashionable. As well as coffee in production and farm infrastructure, for many years we have maintained a wildlife reserve of 200 acres of natural tropical forest. This represents nearly 20% of the land that we own and it will never be brought into cultivation. We are very conscious of the delicate environment that exists on our plantation. It is our home and we treat it with respect. The health and well being of the people, animals and plants of the plantation is important. The climate and geography of our farm generally preempts the need to resort to pesticides. We do not use herbicide on any of our coffee. All of the weed control is done by hand with machete. We are the only large plantation that I know of still operating this way. It is expensive, but we consider it to be a necessary cost. For the consumer, an important result of these methods of cultivation is a product free from any contaminants.

The entire production of La Minita coffee is typically dried mechanically at the mill to insure greater control over the final moisture content. This process also eliminates possible contamination that can occur with coffee on a drying patio. Mechanical drying takes less time than sun-drying, less space, and can take place even in bad weather.

Regardless of the potential advantages to mechanical drying, we are of the belief that it also takes a little mojo out of the cup. Instead of running through a pre-drier and then spending twenty four hours in a large mechanical drum to dry, our 100 % sun-dried La Minita Del Sol has spent four days in the Costa Rican sun. It was carefully tended and turned during those four days, where it dried more slowly and evenly. For this reason it retains more of its intensity as the year goes along while other mechanically dried Central American coffees lose their sparkle.

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FROM THE COFFEE COLLECTION