It’s been another busy month at La Minita! In this month’s newsletter, we’ve got new shipments from Colombia and some updates from Costa Rica.
Colombia Shipping Soon
Last year, we began a new partnership with La Cooperativa Departamental de Caficultores del Huila — Cadefihuila, for short — to source excellent coffees from Colombia’s Huila department.
With roots going back to 1963, Cadefihuila is one of Colombia’s most established coffee grower’s cooperatives. The cooperative is comprised of over 4,000 members and operates a Trilladora in Palermo, which produces everything from single-variety microlots to versatile regional lots.
We are expecting March shipments to the East and West coasts of their Palestina Excelso, a micro-regional lot from small producers in the area around the town of Palestina, Huila. This coffee is a mixture of Red Bourbon, Pink Bourbon, and Tabi varieties and has cup notes of ripe berry, limeade, and blood orange.
If you’re interested in these or any other coffees from Huila — regional lots, microlots, EA decafs, or anything else, reach out to your salesperson or contact us via the form on our website. We’d be happy to talk details about pricing and arrival timelines or answer any other questions you might have!
This Month in Costa Rica
The harvest is wrapping up at La Minita, and with it, another year of visits with our customers. This year we hosted over 100 guests at the farm, and it was great to see so many friends old and new.
We saw excellent cherry being delivered all season long, and that has translated directly to the cup quality — we’re looking forward to getting these coffees into your hands soon!
We also had a special visitor at the farm in February — Queen Mathilde of Belgium! Queen Mathilde was in Costa Rica in her role as the Honorary President of UNICEF Belgium, and she visited the Casas de Alegría at La Minita.
Casas de Alegría are daycare centers on our farms which provide meals, learning, and a safe place to play for the children of farm workers during the workday. They are one of our most important initiatives, along with our staff housing and on-farm medical and dental clinics. Your continuing purchases of La Minita are what allows us to fund these programs.
Queen Mathilde spent an afternoon visiting with the children, meeting our team, and even learning a little bit about coffee production. We are proud to provide these spaces for care and education and are grateful to Queen Mathilde and UNICEF for their support in our efforts.
A truckload of ripe cherry on its way to the receiving station at La Minita
La Minita’s Harry Odio explains our picking standards to Belgium’s Queen Mathilde
available now
GUATEMALA, CANDELARIA SELECT
Each year, we work with partners in Guatemala to source this standout regional lot from Huehuetenango. This is the last of our Guatemala inventory until the new crop lands, so if you need coverage, let us know!
Availability: CTI NJ
Certifications: N/A
Cupping notes: Orange, plum, milk chocolate
COSTA RICA, HACIENDA RIO NEGRO
The first of our new crop shipments from Costa Rica, this coffee comes from our farm in Coto Brus, in the south of Costa Rica near the border with Panama. This is a versatile coffee that just gets better each year!
Availability: CTI NJ
Certifications: Rainforest Alliance
Cupping notes: Cocoa, citrus, nutty
That’s all for this month’s edition. Thanks for reading, and as always, if there’s anything we can do for you, reach out to your salesperson or fill out our contact form and we’ll get right back to you. See you next month!