Costa Rica Las Palomas Washed

Finca Las Palomas is owned by the Monge García Family, headed by brother and sister Daniel José and María Isabel. For a long time this farm has belonged to the family, the first owner was the grandfather named Adam Monge Picado, later inherited by his son Toño Monge Picado and he handed it down to Jorge Adam Monge Garbanzo. Two of Don Jorge’s 4 children now run the farm.

Las Palomas spans six hectares and produces around 250 fanegas (a fenega is approx. 46kg) of coffee annually. The farm is named Las Palomas because of the various birds that can be found in the region, his Don Jorge employs two full-time farm workers, and a group of 25 collectors visit the farm during the harvest season, moving between Las Palomas and the neighbouring farms.

Coffee is delivered to the nearby Association of Agricultural Producers of the Communities of Acosta and Aserrí (ASOPROAAA), who process coffee and citrus in the areas of Acosta, Jorco and Palmichal, as well as offering financial, commercial and technical support to its members. They have been influential in the revival of agricultural production in the region, and are unique in their offering as a processor of traceable, quality differentiated micro lots.

Cherry for this lot is sorted before being pulped to remove the skin of the cherry and passed through the demucilager to be ‘washed’ and to remove the mucilage surrounding the bean. After washing, the lot was dried for six days on patios before being transferred to mechanical dryers for 30 to 36 hours to finish the drying process. Once the desired moisture level was reached, the coffee was packaged in poly bags for resting and sorted until the hulling process.