The first shipments of our new Hacienda La Minita crop have landed in the warehouses on both U.S. coasts. This 18/19 harvest represents our 34th year of exporting and importing Hacienda La Minita as a Single Estate Costa Rican coffee! We have come a long way from our first shipment of 50 bags of Hacienda La Minita in 1985. Whether you’ve been with us for one year, one decade, two, or more, we thank you for your support. Thirty-four years has brought incredible change to the world and the Tarrazú Valley. Weather patterns get more unpredictable every year and force us to adapt. The pesky newer strains of Coffee Leaf Rust cause more headaches than ever - some years we win the battle, some years not so much. And crop volume this year, even in an anticipated low cycle, made cherry procurement at our buying stations quite challenging. Despite these difficulties our goal remains to focus 100% on quality. And as you know, quality for us at Hacienda La Minita includes not only quality in the cup but everything that goes toward building that. We strive to produce this world-class coffee with a dedication to sustainability and preserving our farm for future generations, while also honoring our responsibility to protect and give profit to the communities where we live and work.
A quality cup without these benefits is just another nice cup of coffee. A few of our top line improvements this year include: a new cherry float separation tank in the wet mill to further reduce our water usage; two new Pinhalense rotary dryers with 120 quintal capacity each, also fueled by our parchment husk furnaces that burn cleaner and more efficiently than wood fired furnaces; new plantings of SL28, Villa Sarchi, and Geisha; new processing methods like controlled anaerobic fermentation on some honey and natural coffees; additional raised drying beds for our small lot projects that nearly doubled our drying capacity; we also finessed our bed drying times and use of shade cloth to better control the drying process.
The cup quality for the Hacienda La Minita coffee this season reminds us of vintages from the 1990s. We attribute this to our loyalty to traditional varieties, and especially the proportions we strive for. The massive renovations we undertook three years ago to replace rust damaged trees allowed us to replant in blocks, so our fertilizer applications are now tailored specifically for each variety. As always, no herbicides or pesticides are used, and our strict requirement of picking only fully ripe fruit guarantees the best raw material for milling. And that cup quality? Unmatched clarity, exceptional sweetness, near perfect balance, and a complexity of flavor that Sergio regularly describes as “elegant.” From the first export crop 34 years ago the goal was to produce the best possible coffee from the farm. We chase the perfect cup every year. It is demanding work and always elusive but the journey is the reward. Once again we stand proud of the work we’ve done and are excited to share the results of this past year with all of you. Both warehouses are stocked. Contact us to place an order or request a sample.