Our latest Costa Rican coffee comes from Coope Tarrazu, which was founded in 1960 and today has almost 5000 members, 33% of which are women producers. They have four full-time agronomists who regularly visit members. Over the last 15 years the number of producers has increased by 50% and the annual coffee production by 70%. They are the largest cooperative in Costa Rica, producing 250000 bags per year which is just over 15% of the country's total production.
Currently, the coop offer free seeds and soil analysis for members as a way of encouraging reforestation of the local area in order to be more sustainable in the long term. For the seasonal workers they offer free housing during harvest times, and festivals as a way of engaging and encouraging the continuation of their cultural heritage.
The land is steep and mountainous, from 1400 to 1550 metres above sea level and with gradients up to 25%. As well as buying cherry from the coop members they have there own farms for special varieties and processes which are kept as microlots for the speciality market.
As Dave found out on his recent trip, the 3.5 Hectare Tirra plot is named after the 200 year old Tirra tree it surrounds, and is home to this F1 hybrid called Centroamericano developed by World Coffee Research. F1 varieties refer to the new wave of first generation varieties with disease resistance, good yields and importantly good flavour profiles bred into their traits.
One of the key distinguishing features of F1 hybrids is their "hybrid vigor," which can translate into everything from higher yields, to wider climate adaptability, to resilience in the face of stresses like disease (e.g., coffee rust) frost, or drought. Another is the reduced time from breeding to commercial release compared with traditional pure line varieties (10-20 years vs. 25-30).
You are tasting the future of coffee (potentially).