Single Origin Coffee Bean Recommendations | Costa Rica El Conquistador | Tarrazu Coffee Region La Minita

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Coffee Details

Name: Costa Rica La Minita El Conquistador Tarrazu

Region: Tarrazu, Dota

Estate: Farms under the La Minita Group

Varieties: Caturra, Catuai

Altitude: 1,200 to 1,900 meters

Grade: SHB (Strictly Hard Bean)

Processing Method: Washed process

Flavor Profile: Rich dark chocolate and cocoa notes, with abundant oils and a creamy texture, delivering a quite full-bodied mouthfeel.

Introduction

La Minita International Coffee Export Company is named after its flagship estate, Hacienda La Minita, in Costa Rica's Tarrazu region. In addition to the Costa Rican flagship estate, La Minita also supplies green coffee beans from various growing regions worldwide. La Minita maintains vertical integration across their farms and processing facilities, ensuring consistent quality and flavor in their coffee. They focus on world-class growing regions and staff at origin to ensure coffee meets La Minita's high export standards.

Dota is an independent small sub-region within Tarrazu, located at a considerable distance from other Tarrazu coffee-growing areas. Therefore, different climatic conditions, terrain, and unique soil characteristics cause Dota region beans to present flavors somewhat distinct from those of the Tarrazu region.

Hacienda La Minita is located within Costa Rica's famous Tarrazu growing region. Due to the estate's excellent geographical environment and microclimate, La Minita's beans exhibit more balanced and aromatic flavors compared to other Tarrazu coffees. Although there are variations in altitude and temperature across the estate, fortunately the large river surrounding the estate minimizes these cooling effects. Additionally, the farm faces west, allowing for gradual warming in the morning and slow cooling in the evening. This unique geographical environment creates exceptionally favorable natural conditions.

The approximately 680-acre La Minita estate grows four coffee varieties: Caturra, Caturra red, Caturra yellow, and Hibrido. After years of experimental statistical analysis and cupping quality tests, La Minita Estate decided to primarily use the Caturra variety while maintaining small quantities of the old Hibrido variety. Although La Minita plants about 2,500 coffee trees per acre, planting quantities are determined based on geographical regional characteristics and coffee tree species.

La Minita Estate currently has approximately 1.7 million trees in total. La Minita employs a 5-year rotation system—after three pruning cycles (15 years), the coffee trees' resources are nearly depleted, at which time La Minita replaces them with new trees from their own nursery. The nursery is located in a well-protected area within the estate, where new trees are planted for one year before being transplanted to production farms. La Minita uses fast-growing, broad-leaved "Poró" trees as coffee shade trees. These trees are planted at different densities based on the sunlight needs and temperature control requirements of each production area, with adjustments made according to demand.

All estate soils undergo soil testing twice yearly. Based on these test results, fertilization decisions are made, with approximately three applications per year. This approach is motivated by both economic and environmental considerations.

At La Minita Estate, the climate and altitude significantly limit pest populations. Beyond not using pesticides, the most important factors are meticulous planting and weeding techniques. Within La Minita Estate, no pesticides are used, and fortunately, due to the estate's geographical advantages, the climate and altitude greatly restrict pest numbers. Most importantly, through careful cultivation and weeding techniques, La Minita's coffee trees grow strong and healthy, and the small number of pests does not significantly impact the coffee trees.

As the rainy season ends, cherry maturation begins. Green coffee cherries start turning red or yellow. Cherry maturation is very slow and uneven, unlike the rapid and uniform flowering. Therefore, harvesting must be handled more carefully. Ripe cherries are harvested first, while unripe fruit remains on the tree for later harvest. La Minita may harvest the fruit from a single coffee tree up to 5 times based on ripeness. The harvest season ends after the final picking, around late February. After the season, all coffee fruits, whether ripe or unripe, are completely picked to prepare the coffee trees for the following year's production.

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