Field Notes
What’s more special than an immaculately grown, processed, and prepared high elevation Tarrazú coffee that’s prepared by one of the nicest guys in the region? Welcome to another coffee harvest at our partner Finca La Pastora in Costa Rica.
You cupped, we listened. In 2018, we launched our Beneficio Rio Tarrazú (BRT) microlot program. We packed our bags with samples, hit the road, and set out to get feedback on our microlots from roasters across the country. Taking your likes and dislikes into account, we came out swinging for the 2018/19 harvest. A few crowd pleasers were brought back, like the Rancho Grande washed Red Bourbon, and a few were new to the scene, like the Lilo Caturra honey anaerobic fermentation lot (say that three times fast!).
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.
The 2019 SCA in Boston was held from Friday April 12th to Sunday April 14th. We were able to regroup and reconnect with many of our longtime clients along with new friends. Our entire green coffee team was in attendance along with Ricardo Herrera, our General Manager of Cafeteleria de Tierras Ticas and Enrique Vasquez, our partner from Colombia.
The main Kenya crop has finished and the auctions are winding down. The overall crop volume in Kenya was on par with previous crop cycles, while the low C is affecting other origins the top Kenya lots are commanding a high premium.
Costa Rica is expecting the lowest crop volume in 40 years. Crop 17/18 was pegged at two million 46 kg bags. For crop 18/19 ICAFE has a forecast of 1.765 million bags but most people in the industry believe that is too high.
Another successful year at La Minita is wrapped up! Once again we hosted loads of visitors and guests, shared our farming and milling processes, covered miles and miles at the farm, and generally had another fantastic year. It’s been our policy since forever that if you buy a bag of La Minita coffee, you have a standing invitation to visit us at the farm.
We’re excited to announce the arrival of a new partner for Brazilian coffees, Capricornio Coffees. These interesting coffees come from the southern Brazil states of Paraná and Sãu Paulo. They fit right into the La Minita mold with a selection of trademark coffees as well as microlots.
2018 saw the debut of our microlot program from our mill at La Minita, Beneficio Rio Tarrazu, or BRT. These lots were from both our Minita property, as well as the Rancho Grande parcel on Hacienda La Pradera.
Jim and I just returned from a client trip to visit our joint-venture trilladora in Jardín Colombia. We checked on crop health, production status, mill business, and general health of coffee flow in Jardin as it pertains to our operation there.
