Sculpting Coffee
Photo by Coke Riera Oxigeno Magazine
Sculpting Coffee I came to recognize Matias as an artist, who began by creating his foundational brew, then continually sculpting and shaping variations on the theme. By Tony Tedeschi
When Matias Zeledon died on September 10 the world lost the consummate artist among gourmet coffee growers. And I lost a dear friend. To Matias, creating his coffee was not simply the product of the business he founded some 20 years earlier, but the ultimate expression of his art. The concept of what constitutes art is far too limited if we think only in terms of painting and sculpture, music, literature, the generally accepted creative fields. I see art in a limitless landscape of endeavors, where creativity turns anything that crafts its own version of clay into its own innovative pottery. This is a story about the art of sculpting coffee and one gifted artist’s mastery of his medium. It is based on a friendship of more than 20 years and notes taken over the course of multiple visits to Costa Rica as a freelance journalist writing for newspapers, magazines and websites. No matter what assignment took me to Costa Rica, I always th
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found time for Matias. He was a man of culture, a wonderful raconteur, a delightful conversationalist, as well as an astute businessman, who built his company with a deep respect for its place within the ecological context of his country. “Down To Earth,” he called it, with every nuance implied by that appellation. I met Matias in 1998, in his former incarnation as an adman. We’d been vectored together at the intersection of our professions. I was writing one of the special travel sections I did for each issue of Audubon magazine; Matias was doing marketing for a former president of Costa Rica, who owned a small property with the potential to attract ecotourists, particularly bird-watchers. Audubon was pretty much the go-to magazine for bird-watchers. I was headed to Expotur, a travel trade show on the outskirts of Costa Rica’s capital of San José, a gathering to make multiple contacts for my special magazine sections. My hotel
