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Costa Rica “Gift of Happiness”, Part 2: Mi Cafecito Coffee Tour

Read Part 1 of our Gift of Happiness adventure.

We left Costa Rica’s capitol (and largest) city and immediately swung into the charming town of Alajuela, whose pastel-colored farmacias, cafes and small eateries, called sodas, were largely shuttered because it was Sunday. From there, we found ourselves rising through the mountains of Costa Rica, heading north. The landscape was dotted with coffee plantations; squat stucco houses painted pastel pink and bright blue and chartreuse seemingly sunk into the dirt, with small tiled front porches and laundry drying outside on lines; and small pineapple, banana and other farms, or fincas. Carlos explained what each town was known for and what the different fincas were growing. Like many people we would meet in Costa Rica, he also had a great sense of humor and fun.

On the way, we saw a cow (and a man) pulling one of these traditional colorful ox carts. I didn’t get a good picture. Luckily, Red Gage did.

People were selling fruit from stands and in front of homes. We pulled over on a high mountain road to buy some strawberries and Anna apples (yes, they were called that!) Turismo vans, like ours, passed us, threading up into the hills.

We passed one of several stunning waterfalls (I believe this is the La Paz waterfall) and Carlos stopped so I could snap a picture. Families played in the water at its base.

We wound further on mountain roads, surrounded by lush greenery, until we arrived at the Coope Sarapiqui Mi Cafecito coffee plantation.

We quickly met Walter, our extremely knowledgeable and engaging tour guide, who explained that the co-op includes 137 local small coffee growers and that it is committed to organic and fair trade practices and products, which include employing local people — a hallmark of many Costa Rican enterprises that we would come across. Walter is a second-generation co-op member.

We learned how coffee seeds are planted and coffee grown and harvested. This was especially exciting because we had recently taken a tour of the Highwire Coffee roasting plant back home and now we were seeing where similar coffee was grown.

Trees mature in 3-5 years, and coffee fruit is ripe for picking when it turns red. The beans are actually inside this red “coffee cherry” fruit. At busy times of the year, more locals are called in to harvest the seeds.

Each fruit contains 1-3 seeds. Michael, Anna and I each managed to pick a fruit with a different number of seeds. In addition, Anna got a peaberry, which is a single seed, rather than the usual double. (4% of coffee cherries produce peaberries.)

Because the farm is completely organic, pest-control is handled in a low-impact way, by a series of paper cups with alcohol inside, which attracts and then kills beetles and other unwanted creatures.

Walter demonstrated an old hand-cranked machine that shells the fruits and leaves the remaining coffee beans.

This is the newer version:

Coffee beans are then sun-dried, roasted in an oven called an horno, and packed into burlap bags for shipping.

After getting a close-up tour of sustainable coffee making. we trekked through the surrounding forest. It was humid, though not terribly hot, and we were already slapping at new mosquito bites on our apparently delicious North American skin.

The plants and flowers were exotic and beautiful, including the poisonous, hallucinogenic Angel’s Trumpet:

We looked out over the Sarapiqui River and visited the elaborate composting room — not the only one we’d see on our tour of this incredibly eco-conscious country.

Time for lunch and coffee! Lovely meals of house-farmed tilapia, traditional rice and beans, and banana plantains were brought to us. We also enjoyed the dark-roasted full-bodied Mi Cafecito coffee so much that we bought some to bring home.

Photos by Susan Sachs Lipman, Red Gage, Carlos

Stay tuned for Part 3 of our Gift of Happiness adventure.

 

 

 

 

Coffee Roasting and Cupping with Highwire

We’re such fans of coffee in our house that when the opportunity came to attend a Coffee Roasting and Cupping at Highwire Coffee Roasters in Emeryville, CA, hosted by Slow Food East Bay, caffeinated or not, we jumped at it.

About a dozen people gathered over coffee and pastries at metal tables in a small industrial warehouse to learn a bit about the artisan company, which was started in 2011 by three friends with a shared passion for good coffee and talents ranging from evaluating, roasting, cupping and blending beans and coffees to retail and marketing, business and education. (Eric, Robert and Rich, below).

Highwire receives coffee beans from all over the world, based on a constantly shifting equation of availability, price and taste.

Eric is the master roaster, and he demonstrated his expertise and quality control, through a number of steps in the 15-minute roasting process — removing small amounts of beans from the oven during roasting to look, smell, feel, and ultimately decide when to release the beans from the oven to let them cool down. This is a process that he usually does alone and quietly, as it takes a great deal of  concentration.

This mesmerizing machine moves and fans the beans to help them cool after roasting.

Once the coffee was roasted, we went into the cupping room, where the Highwire folks routinely evaluate the various coffees.

We learned what a coffee taster looks for in a good cup, such as aroma, acidity, body, balance and flavor, all of which serve to bring out the subtle flavors and profiles that bespeak the region where the coffee was grown and harvested. Highwire favors a fairly light roast because, as they explained, once coffee is dark-roasted, one begins to taste the roast taste (which can have caramel or other notes), as opposed to the subtle taste of the various beans.

We each tasted three types of coffee – Sigri Estate from Papua New Guinea, Tano Batak from Sumatra, and Santa Isabel from Guatemala — using the cupping method of letting boiled water settle over the fine grounds and then tasting a small amount with a spoon. The fresh-ground coffee, drank this way, was quite mellow in flavor, even as its caffeine packed a punch (both are characteristic of lighter roasts.)

After smelling and tasting each, my favorite coffee kept changing. The Sigri Estate was slightly spicy, the Tano Batak and the Santa Isabel slightly fruity and sweet. The Tano Batak had some earth notes that we were told are characteristic of coffee from Sumatra. If I had to pick, that one would have been my favorite. Michael seemed to prefer the Santa Isabel.

It was an educational and fulfilling morning. We even left with 2 pounds each of Santa Isabel coffee and San Rafael coffee from Guatemala. And the coffee that Eric roasted in demonstration that morning? Because he had been talking through the roast, he deemed it not good enough for resale.

Photos: Highwire Coffee, Susan Sachs Lipman, Michael Lipman

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