From coconut tree lined beaches on the coast to cloud-high volcanoes and lush dense tropical jungles, Costa Rica is as pretty as a postcard in all directions.
For those that didn’t take much notice in their geography class at school, Costa Rica is a Central American country which is a little smaller than Tasmania with a population about the size of Sydney and is situated between Nicaragua and Panama.
Costa Rica is one of the most biologically diverse places on the plant with a stunning array of interesting animals, birds and insects. What the tourist guides might not mention is just how environmentally focused the whole population is. They produce nearly all their domestic electricity using hydroelectric, geothermal and wind power and recycling and reusing is just a way of normal life. There is a deep understanding that we have been given one planet and it’s our duty to look after it for future generations.
I drove from the capital city of San Jose and headed for the hills to the south. Within an hour I was quickly climbing in altitude, the temperature dropped and the scenery was starting to morph into forest and tighter winding roads. As I made my way into the cloud cover I spotted the first roadside coffee tree and a smile grew on my face.
My destination in the valley was a small town called Santa Maria de Dota, the heart of the Tarrazu growing region. Tarrazu is world renowned for producing some of the very finest coffee in Central America and coffee from here was used to win the World Barista Championship recently.
Santa Maria is a coffee town; nearly all the locals grow coffee in nearby small plot farms and even in the back-yards of their house blocks. The coffee processing mill for the region was established in 1960 in the middle of the town and is called Coope Dota.
Coope Dota is a cooperative of more than 800 small plot farmers (around 2 hectare farms) who elect a board of directors each year. Those directors then appoint a general manager / CEO to run the mill and for the last 22 years the General Manager has been Don Roberto Mata Naranjo. Roberto is a local lad who grew-up in the town in a house next door to where he still lives. He grows coffee and has a perpetual seedling nursery on site and his adult son also farms coffee. There is a fair chance that his grand children will also follow the footsteps in this multi-generation farming family.
In the time I was with Roberto I could tell he was the go-to man in town, a friendly smile and a wave from everyone we passed and a jovial “Hola” echoed through the streets. I suspect that growing coffee and having a deep understanding of the whole process really helps build the respect needed to run such a successful co-op.
Coope Dota was the first coffee processor in the world to be certified carbon neutral and all aspects of the production including processing, sales and transportation are covered. They removed the timber-fired driers and commissioned John Gordon in the UK to build kiln driers that run on coffee parchment (husks) that are normally a waste product in coffee production. The fruit and skins that are removed during processing are also transported to an area just out of the town and composted to produce an amazingly rich growing soil that is then used to fertilise and grow the next generation of coffee tree seedlings. Mounds of the fruit pulp are turned-over and managed to ensure that heat and moisture content is just right for the worms to work their magic. The compost area smells bad but the end result is some of the best soil I’ve ever seen and I’m told that fruit, vegetables and of course coffee all love to grow in this special potting mix.
The co-op has a specific area to produce fully traceable microlots with a range of different processing techniques. They have a 100% red cherry policy for the microlot program, farmers deliver the very best of their crop and Coope Dota will then determine the very best method to process that specific coffee. All the microlot coffees are then sample roasted and cupped blind in their lab before pricing is set based on the true quality in the cup.
Processing:
Natural – Dried with the fruit still on the cherry before it is separated from the seed inside.
Honey – Skin removed leaving most of the pulp to dry with the seed.
Washed – Fruit pulp of the cherry is removed and the seed is dried in parchment.
Drying:
Kiln Dried – Dried with accurate control over the temperature and time.
Raised Bed – Raised drying beds inside a shade house with adjustable and controllable ventilation.
Patio Dried – Concrete patio sun drying with regular manual raking to ensure the seeds don’t mold.
Coope Dota is a gem in the Tarrazu growing region and it’s easy to see why they are constantly producing amazing coffees that are leaving their mark on the world stage. Every year they test and try different processing methods to make their coffee shine and to ensure that the best price is returned to the farmers that they represent. It’s an excellent model run by great people in a very beautiful country and I really look forward to visiting again one day.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andy Freeman owns and runs coffeesnobs.com.au. Fresh roasted coffee, green beans and Australia’s biggest coffee forum www.coffeesnobs.com.au