Hacienda La Minita 

The farm is situated in Costa Rica in the coffee producing area of Los Santos in the growing region of Tarrazú.  The area includes a series of small villages and towns that begin in the north with San Juan Norte and end in the south with Santa Maria de Dota. 

 

The farm consists of a total of 1,200 acres of land of which 800 acres are currently in production. Of the remaining 400 acres, there are 200 acres of natural forest preserve located on the south side of the farm. The land lays on an east-west axis, bordered by the Tarrazú river to the south and the Candelaria river to the north. The soil is a pale clay, tan to light red.

 

Although there is a section of the farm that approaches 6,000 feet in altitude, the central block lies between 3,750 feet and 5,000 feet. The main house is located at an altitude of 4,850 feet. In spite of the considerable altitude differences, the mean temperature variance is minimized by the cooling effect of the large river flow that borders the farm. Importantly, the farm faces the west, which allows for gradual warming in the morning and slow cooling in the evening.

 

There are approximately 680 acres of coffee in production. They have four varieties of trees under cultivation; Caturra, Catuai red, Catuai yellow, and Hibrido Tico. 

 

They plant approximately 2,500 trees per acre on the farm depending upon the geography of the area being planted and the variety of tree used. This results in a total of about 1,700,000 trees on the farm.

 

Highly skilled employees monitor the coffee trees and as necessary, approximately every five years, the trees are pruned. This will encourage the tree to begin new growth. One year after this cutting, the tree is shaped to maximize its continued growth. All of this work is performed using hand tools. Each year approximately 350,000 trees are pruned.

 

GROWING CYCLE

They produce one crop of coffee each year, the cycle begins with the first rains of the year. These rains normally occur between the end of March and the beginning of May. 

 

Approximately ten days after the initial rains, small honeysuckle-like flowers form on the trees. Millions of flowers are produced in a spectacular display. The entire farm looks like it is covered in freshly fallen snow. It is a fleeting event, for a few days after they appear, the flowers whither and fall off the trees. The flowering is of critical importance to the coffee crop, for the node where each flower formed will produce a single coffee cherry, and within this cherry are the coffee seeds which will become the coffee bean. If the flowering is adversely affected by the weather, pollination will not occur, no cherry will form and there will be no coffee. 

 

From the onset of the initial rains, they enter into the seven-month rainy season. During the rainy season, there will typically be four to six hours of rainfall every day. These rains nurture the trees and encourage the growth and development of the green coffee cherries. 

 

With the end of the rainy season comes the ripening of the coffee cherries. The large green cherries begin to turn either red or yellow and fill with the sweet honey that surrounds the seeds. Unlike the flowering, the ripening of the fruit is slow and uneven. Only the ripe fruit is picked, leaving the still unripe fruit for subsequent pickings. They pick each tree on the farm up to five times to harvest the fruit.

 

The crop cycle of the farm ends with the “repela”, or the final picking of the trees. This usually occurs at the end of February, and during this pass, all of the coffee cherries, both ripe and unripe, are removed from the trees, preparing the trees for the next year’s cycle.

 

 

BENEFICIO RIO TARRAZU

 

Their coffee mill, Beneficio Rio Tarrazú, is located on land adjacent to the farm, just across the Tarrazú River. They believe the mill to be the most technologically advanced and ecologically sound coffee processing facility in the world.

 

The milling of the coffee is critical in determining the final quality of the coffee. Not only are there chemical changes occurring within the beans that will determine their final cup quality, but also a series of separations that remove the lower quality beans. Of 100 pounds of green equivalent cherries that enter the milling process, only about 23 pounds make it to become La Minita.

 

THE PEOPLE

Thera is a core of 80 full time employees (managers, farm workers, clerical staff, drivers and maintenance personnel). Full time employees have access to on site housing for themselves and their families on the farm when available for as long as they need it. This core of people is augmented by approximately 150 contracted laborers to perform weed control and over 600 pickers during the harvest.

 

A medical clinic is located on the farm, a doctor staffs this clinic two days a week. They also have a dentist at the farm three days a week. The goal of this clinic is to provide preventative care. 

 

As well as the office and storage buildings, there are 23 housing units within the farm. There is also a camp with showers, indoor plumbing, and cooking facilities for pickers who live too far away to travel every day. All of the water used in these facilities is fed by springs and is perfectly safe to drink.