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Constrasting coffee cultures Costa Rica’s long history of coffee production is valued by generations of coffee farmers. Dariusz Lewandowski rediscovers the country that worships coffee as a stable to life, income and wellbeing.
W
hen coffee people meet, coffee is naturally often the main, – if not the only – topic. Although my wife often finds it tiring to listen to coffee stories again and again, she enjoys being around coffee people. Living in Sumatra for 14 years gave me a chance to experience some special coffee moments, which I often think about. Those memories exist as if those moments happened just yesterday. I explicitly remember the early years of 2000. Foreign visitors, mostly coffee roasters, started regularly making their way towards Sumatra. It was the beginning of a unique time when closer coffee relationships began to be built. Green bean producers like us were given a chance to know more about those who transformed the beans into a delicious beverage. And it worked both ways –the coffee roasters also got a chance to be involved in coffee plantation life and experience the processing aspects of the unique coffee beans that they were after. Various sustainability and certification projects started picking up during that time. We intended to make a difference and be a real part of sustainability so we decided to look for a coffee agronomist. It was not an easy task. Locally, it was impossible to find someone who understood coffee biology and, most importantly, coffee trees. As a young man who was passionate about coffee, I often looked to Costa Rica, Columbia or Guatemala,
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places I believed were coffee origin countries with strong coffee cultures. In 2006, we were able to hire a Costa Rican coffee agronomist, Eduardo Gurdian Pacheco. At the time I knew very little about Costa Rica, except that it was a small country in Central America. The size of Costa Rica is around 51-thousand-square kilometres. It has a population of roughly 4.5 million people and coffee means a lot to its economy. Eduardo’s family has grown coffee since 1900, when his great-
grandparents Lucila Dubal and Jenaro Morales purchased their first farm. Eduardo, also called Edo, is the fifth generation of his family to work on the coffee farm. So it isn’t surprising that Edo’s parents were overwhelmed when he announced to them in a trembling voice that he planned to go to Sumatra, a place exactly opposite his country on a globe of the world, with a coffee culture distinctly different to the one he grew up with. Every evening before he left, Edo diligently researched Sumatra and
Eduardo Gurdian Pacheco
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anything that related to Sumatran coffee. He thought he had done his homework and wasn’t expecting many surprises when he arrived on that Indonesian island. But he was going to encounter a coffee culture shock. His home, which lies between the Costa Rican territory of the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans, is surrounded by mountains. Sumatra, which is basically flat in its topography, has one of the deepest lakes in the world. Everything seemed to be unalike. And despite their similar tropical climates, the coffee harvest in both countries takes place at different times. During the rainy season in Costa Rica coffee cherries grow and develop, but in Sumatra the rain means that it is time to harvest. The dry season in Costa Rica is when the coffee cherry harvest takes place, a way that is more appealing to us who have worked in wet Sumatra for some time already. Edo told us about famous production coffee areas in Costa Rica such as Tarrazu, Brunca, Orosi, Tres Rios, Turrialba, Central Valley and Occidental valley. He told us that in Costa Rica only arabica coffee is
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allowed to be cultivated and produced. Sumatra is more flexible in this regard and, as disorganised as it can be, robusta coffee is pretty easily spotted even in between arabica trees. Another
“Fifty five thousand Costa Rican coffee families rely entirely on coffee as far as income is concerned and there is little else that contributes to their wellbeing.”
striking point is the fact that 92 per cent of Costa Rican coffee farmers have around five hectares of production, or slightly less, and often work on a cooperative basis, cashing in on great technical support. Edo had to face an individualistic coffee farmer who knew very little about the coffee tree and whose only knowledge is acquired through a ‘copy-cat’ habit where a neighbour copies things from another coffee neighbour, whether those practices are good or bad. Fifty five thousand Costa Rican coffee families rely on coffee for their income and there is little else that contributes to their wellbeing. In contrast, Sumatran farmers use the coffee proceeds to grow vegetables, which suggests that they are less attached to the coffee tree. Because of these contrasts, Edo found it hard during his first few months in Sumatra. In Costa Rica the coffee fermentation process is so rigid in its recipe I often joked that they must be using a stop-watch to control the fermentation time. In Sumatra however, no one worries too much if the coffee stays in a plastic bag and ferments for
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He proved to be a passionate coffee person who looks at differences as a chance for enrichment rather than a field for useless comparisons.
more than 12 hours. What made Edo’s transition even more difficult was the fact that although Sumatran coffee had far less farmer input and care than Costa Rica’s coffee and was grown and processed in a very undisciplined system, it grabbed bigger prices than its well-organised Costa Rican counterpart. It was very difficult for Edo to understand the logic behind it. After six months of living in Sumatra, Edo was able look at these contrasts differently. He engaged with farmers and applied what he learnt in Costa Rica to research the Sumatran coffee environment. He developed fantastic coffee seedlings that became a big hit for Sumatran farmers, who frequently relied on anaemic seeds. He often joked when working with farmers and they loved him. Edo introduced pruning practices from Costa Rica that benefitted Sumatran farmers. Sometimes he even spoke on the local radio to talk directly to coffee farmers. Three years in Sumatra completely transformed him into a coffee agronomist who is accepting of differences, no matter how much they contrast what he knows. He proved to be a passionate coffee person who looks at these differences as a chance for enrichment rather than a field for useless comparisons. Today, Edo is back in Costa Rica. He worked for some time with Volcafe Costa Rica and has just started working
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on his family farm, taking over his father’s plantation. His farm is located on the Costa Rican West Valley production area in Naranjo, where coffee grows in rich volcanic soils at an altitude between 1000 to 1200 metres. West Valley is one of the most complex regions in the production of high-quality coffee and it enjoys a pleasant climate with distinct dry and wet seasons. The Naranjo coffee area is a prosperous land located in the foothills of the Poás volcano. It is famous for its strong coffee culture and for its high-quality coffee. With diverse microclimates, fertile volcanic soils and farmers who are strict in their control over plantations throughout the year, Naranjo produces a unique coffee characterised by pleasant peach and apricot flavors. Coffee farmers in Naranjo are known for their dedication to the production of coffee. This strong Costa Rican coffee tradition has resulted in generations of families working in the coffee business. Hacienda Pilas, Eduardo’s coffee plantation, is located in San Jerónimo de Naranjo. Its activities as coffee growers date back to 1910 when Mrs. Lucila Morales bought Hacienda Miramonte on the county of Heredia. In this hacienda, the Gurdian Family, Eduardo’s family (great, great grandsons of Mrs. Lucila) produced and milled coffee for almost 90 years. In 1997 the Hacienda Miramonte was sold so that a hospital could be built in Heredia. The family then bought Hacienda Pilas in Naranjo County where Eduardo is both agronomist and a manager. Hacienda Pilas is dedicated to the growth and production of coffee under strict sustainable and social labour practices. Currently the Hacienda employs more than 30 permanent workers, plus 200 pickers during the harvest season. Its 160 hectares of Catuai coffee grow on fertile volcanic soils on altitude between 1000 to 1200 metres above sea level, classified as Good Hard Been according the international standards. Eduardo’s passion for coffee is obvious. Using the experience gained in both Sumatra and Costa Rica, he is wellequipped to innovate and rediscover the Costa Rican coffee bean.
NAME SHB Miramonte RFA ORIGIN West Valley, Naranjo VARIETIES Catuai CUPPING NOTES fruit notes, apricot, great acidity PROCESSING METHOD Wet Processed ELEVATION 1’000 - 1’200m above sea level RAINFALL 2500 milimetres COFFEE CROP SEASON October through February SCREEN SIZE 15 – 17