Costa Rica Micro-Mills 2008

Color Sorting Color sorters are a key of larger mills, and the latest ones, like these Xeltrons, are incredible fast. They scan the full range from Uv to Infra Red, and reject off-color coffee according to pre-sets using an exact puff of air. I posted a movie on YouTube showing this amazing machine.	Mill workers Houses I noticed that the whole La Eva mill is very tidey and the workers houses very nice... always a good thing to see.	Water Treatment As mentioned, they are building an updated facility next year. They can afford it. The mill is now owned by the Zanetti family (Segafredo) and they are putting money into this mill. Considering all the robusta in the Italian market, this is impressive.
Generating power With great river access, La Eva has it's own power plant...	Heavy Metal Band? A posted by the coffee association. Have you heard the band SHB - they rock!	The new Jabez Burns I rarely see these new Jabez Burns roasters, since Probat bought them, but here's one at La Eva cupping room. The nice thing about them is big barrels.
IMG_1096.JPG	Don't mess with the Helsar, man Ricardo Perez and Marvin Rodriguez of the metal band "Helsar de Zarcero", Costa Rica's answer to Dokken, (all the attitude, without the hair gel).	Helsar Roasting Setup I guess they roast a little coffee at Helsar. This is like a Pinhalense machine, but I don't think it is. Check out the little sample miller.
Our coffee goes up to 21 Counting the cahuelas of cherry coming in. Volume, not quality....	Typica Like some other older farms, Santa Lucia farm (at the Helsar mill) has bronse-tip Typica. The call this Typica Villalobos, and sometimes it is called Criollo. There's some confusion about the term Arabigo because it is used to denote Typica, but I am not sure if this doesnt simply mean Arabica.	Typica Cherries The typica cherry and green seed is often longer than other types, such as Catuai
Typica Coffee, Helsar de Zarcero A nice macro shot of the ripe Typica cherry	Yellow Catuai Ripe yellow catuai chery at Finca Santa Lucia	Organic and shaded Santa Lucia is part of the coffee that goes into the Helsar Organic, with the other farm being Los Anonos. We bought a blend of this and another farm in the 2007 Costa Rica Cup of Excellence, Genesis.
Coffee Pulp put to use At the organic farms you see coffee cherry pulp put to use as organic material for the soil, or mulch.	My office ... If I was a coffee farmer, I thought my office would look like this. A laptop, a 1970s stereo, and a lot of coffee.	work it, kristle Next we visited Herbazu, and Kristle just had to jump into the shot and pose. Now there's someone who's totally shameless. (Just kidding, Kristle is one of the quietest people I have ever traveled with...)
Herbazu's Main ManJuan Barrantes, "Tonio" Tonio is the main overseer of Herbazu, which is a family farm. And that is the totally typical CR coffee farmers hat, sorta Gilligan-ish.	Coffee Pulp At the micro mill, coffee pulp waiting to be carted out.	IMG_1106.JPG
Mmmm... top your Latte with THAT, dude! A different sort of crema, sticky paste generated from the coffee pulper. Herbazu uses a more traditional Costa Rica -made machine, but a demucilage system nonetheless.	Explorer-Same-80 Special-40Km/h Just a great tractor name. You know how farmers are with their tractors.	Villa Sarchi Cultivar One unique thing about Herbazu is their heavy use of Villa Sarchi, about 90%. In fact, it is the great cup they get from this cultivar that has lead to renewed interest in it around Costa Rica.
Villa Sarchi at Herbazu Herbazu is not organic, but pretty much a shadeless coffee (just a few banana). The Villa Sarchi is something they have propagated, so it has essentially become their own hybrid strain of the coffee. The farm is at 1450 meters.	Geisha and Villa Sarchi Cultivars In the foreground, Villa Sarchi, and on top, the Geisha, at the Herbazu nursery. Not surprising, nearly every "vivero" in Central America now has Geisha, and you can bet their will be a major price correction when these come to fruition.	Geisha Plants Under 1 year old Geisha.
The high road, the low road At Herbazu, a little bit of Robert Frost.	Neighbor Sin Limites Cafe Sin Limites, next to Herbazu, coffee without limits, not a cult, or maybe it is. How big is scientology in Central America? Anyway, this is the scene that greets you as you enter their microwarehouse.	Grateful Grateful for buying their Cup of Excellence lot last year, and able to recycle styrofoam. Actually, I was bidding on this lot too in the 2007 auction!
Mill, Hostelry In the mini warehouse of Cafe Sin Limites, next to the density sorting table, a bed, a cot, a TV that was on ... now that's dedication. Warehouse/home. Sounds a bit like Sweet Maria's of yore	Jaime of Cafe Sin Limites Looking for those magic flavor beans that will win the 2008 CoE	Gaviota, the other Colombian Mill Wait, isn't Gaviota just north of Santa Barbara too. This is very similar to the Penagos mill
Turn Toward Dota An easy marker for where you turn to get to Santa Maria de Dota, Los Santos Cafe with the giant coffee cup aloft.	Welcome to Santa Maria de Dota Next to the Catedral on the main square. There's kinda 2 squares here, one with the Coopedota on it and the soccer field, the other with the Catedral - kinda makes sense: God, Football, and the Coop.	Klassy Gifts Celebrating valentines day in a window display of the Pulperia / Regalos shop on the square.