0 Items

With so much delicious coffee in the world, it only made sense for us to expand our horizon and venture beyond Colombia, continuing our search for more “diamond in the rough” coffees.  It didn’t take us long to run in to Jorge Brenes of Hacienda Tobosi in Costa Rica.  It was a family connection that put us in touch with Jorge, and perhaps some help from the coffee Gods.

Don Jorge was quick to send us samples from the past harvest from both of his farms, Hacienda Tobosi and Hacienda Copey, containing varietals such as Catuai Rojo and Catuai Amarillo, and varietals native to Costa Rica, Villasarchi and Villalobos.  The results were impressive and motivating enough for us to make the trek down to Costa Rica.

Jorge comes from a a family of coffee growers, his grandfather being one of the original developers of the famous Tarrazu coffee region of Costa Rica.  It was obvious that coffee ran through Jorge’s blood, and it was clear that we’d get along just fine.

Costa Rica, with a population of only 4.8 million, bears incredible similarities to Colombia.  The majestic mountains, warm and friendly people, and delicious food brought a sense of comfort, reaffirming that we had made the right decision in going.  Jorge picked us up in San Jose and we made the 1.5 hour journey up the mountains of Tarrazu  to Hacienda Tobosi.

We began with a tour of the farm, learning about the different varietals that they produce, the very detailed wet-milling station, and the extensive experimenting that they pride themselves on.  The wet-milling station is set-up for fully washing, to include tiled fermentation tanks and natural water sources for the washing of the beans.  The mill is also set up for honey processing, with a separate water tank that holds the water that washes the mucilage off the beans, and can essentially be re-used to “sweeten-up” other coffees.  This sweet “honey water” is just one example of Jorge’s unique experimenting.

For clarification, the “honey” is not the honey that you may associate with bees.  The honey is the sweet mucilage (slimy and sweet substance) that covers the coffee beans. After the wet-mill, we headed towards the enormous drying beds, where the experimenting continued, with honey processed, semi-washed processed, natural processed, and fully washed processed coffees.  The honey processed coffees sat in a pool of syrupy honey, so thick and sweet, our mouths salivated at the sight of it.  The sweet taste was mind-blowing and made us marvel and appreciate the complexity of this amazing fruit.  One of the beds was filled with the world renown and highly sought after varietal, the holy GEISHA.  Jorge was doing extensive experimenting with the Geisha, trying natural and fully washed processing, the results are expected to be heavenly.  The impressive infrastructure, attention to detail, and passion-driven experimenting made us eager to cup the coffees…And cupping we did!

Our last stop on the farm was to the laboratory, where Jorge and his crew roast and cup the coffees, observing and analyzing, seeing what works and what can be improved.  The cupping table was full with 5 different coffees, four naturally processed coffees (to include full natural, honey, and semi-washed), and one fully washed coffee.  The cupping began, with Mario, Jorge’s in-house Q-grader, leading the charge.  The coffees were all over the spectrum, in a good way!  Some with notes of red-fruit others with notes of vanilla and caramel.  Some coffees with full-bodies, others with medium bodies and brighter acidity.  It was clear that with the wide array of flavors, there was a coffee to satisfy all tastes.

With our palettes satisfied and extremely stimulated, we left Hacienda Tobosi and headed to Hacienda Copey, where we would stay the night.  Our host’s generosity and hospitality was beyond what we were expecting, but seemed typical of the Costa Rican people.  After an amazing dinner and an evening under the star light sky, we called it a night and went to sleep to the sounds of the river that flowed right behind the farm house.

The next morning, after a hearty breakfast, we took a ride to the top of the mountain (2200 meters above sea level) to see some of the young Geisha plants.  These plants, that are still very young and planted about two years ago, will not begin to produce it’s world-class coffee for another 3 years.  Patience and proper maintenance of these Geisha plants will definitely payoff in the end.  By noon we were ready to wrap up “work” and continue our journey.  We left the farm and our gracious host and headed to the Pacific coast to get some surfing in and enjoy some of the beautiful Costa Rican beaches.

We are excited about our friendship with Jorge and his crew and look forward to continuing to grow together, providing you with high quality Specialty Coffee from Hacienda Tobosi and Hacienda Copey.  The farms are in the middle of main harvest and we couldn’t be more excited for the arrival of these amazing coffees.  Stay tuned, amigos!

EnglishSpanish