Where does Don Cayito fit on the central american coffee map?

Don Cayito is a family estate in the Santa Maria de Dota area of Tarrazu, Costa Rica, and it took first place at the 2024 Cup of Excellence with 93.62 points. Costa Rica ranks fourteenth in world coffee production and was the first country in Central America to cultivate coffee, so the estate sits at the center of one of the region's recognized terroirs.

Tarrazu is Costa Rica's largest coffee-producing region, known for high altitude, ample rainfall, and moist Pacific air currents, and it concentrates many COE award-winning estates. Costa Rica splits into seven coffee regions, mostly along the central mountain range, and its volcanic ash, mild temperatures, and rainy season from April to December shape the cup. Coffee history in europe and elsewhere owes much to such origins.

Although Costa Rica is not a large country, it is a force to be reckoned with on the Central American coffee map. As the world's fourteenth-largest coffee producer, it has seven distinct terroir regions, among which Tarrazu is known for its high altitude, ample rainfall, and the nourishment of warm, moist Pacific air currents, and is also the concentration of Cup of Excellence (COE) award-winning estates. At the 2024 COE, Don Cayito took first place with 93.62 points, once again making this family estate the focus of attention. This article will guide you through Costa Rica's coffee geography and take a deep dive into the Santa Maria de Dota area of Tarrazu, sorting out Don Cayito's variety structure, family operation history, and COE track record over the years, while also including Front Street Coffee's recommendations for this estate, for coffee lovers' reference when purchasing.

In Central America, because the region happens to fall within the coffee-growing belt, many countries have developed coffee industries, among which Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, and Costa Rica are all familiar names. Costa Rica ranks fourteenth in the world in coffee production, and it was also the first country in Central America to begin cultivating coffee.

Costa Rica Costa Rica

Costa Rica is located in the Central American isthmus, at the southernmost tip of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north and Panama to the south, with the Caribbean Sea to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west, and a total coastline of about 1,290 kilometers. The coastal areas are mainly plains, while the central region is cut by rolling mountain ranges, with more than 200 volcanoes distributed across the country.

The climate here is tropical and subtropical, divided throughout the year into a rainy season (April to December) and a dry season (late December to April of the following year). The mild temperatures, abundant rainfall, and the rich minerals brought by volcanic ash give Costa Rica exceptional agricultural advantages, making it an important exporter of pineapples, bananas, and coffee.

Coffee-producing regions

Costa Rica is divided into 7 coffee-producing regions: Valley Central Occidental, Valley Central, Tarrazu, Tres Rios, Orosi, Brunca, and Turrialba. These regions are basically concentrated in the central mountain range area.

Tarrazu: This is Costa Rica's largest and most famous producing region, located in San Jose Province. The area was originally called Los Santos, covering administrative areas such as the town of Tarrazu, the town of Dota, and Leon Cortes Castro.

Later, because the name Tarrazu became well known earlier, in 2019 the Costa Rican government registered the coffee designation of origin "Café de Tarrazú" with the European Union and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), so people became accustomed to using "Tarrazu" as the collective name for this large producing region. Influenced by warm, moist Pacific air currents, annual rainfall here can reach 2,400 millimeters, the average temperature is about 19°C, and coffee is mostly grown at altitudes between 1,500 and 2,100 meters.

On the list of Costa Rica Cup of Excellence COE winners, estates from the Tarrazu producing region account for the majority. This year, the one that took the highest score of 93.62 at COE was precisely Don Cayito in the Tarrazu producing region.

Don Cayito

The coffee trees of Don Cayito are mainly distributed in the Santa Maria de Dota area of the Tarrazu producing region. Coffee in this area is grown on hillsides at altitudes of 1,650-2,100 meters. Such a location can avoid interference from Atlantic weather while also catching Pacific sea breezes, and there is also plenty of sunlight during the day.

The estate is currently managed by Luis Ricardo Calderón Madrigal and his family, with a total area of 6 hectares. The estate owner Luis took over the mere 4-hectare La Estrella estate from his father as early as 1998, built a micro-processing station in 2009, and won the COE championship in 2011, thereby opening up international market recognition for the family.

Afterward, in 2016 , he purchased Don Cayito and named it after himself. At present, the estate grows varieties such as Typica, Caturra, Catuai, SL28 , and Geisha. With years of accumulated cultivation experience, the estate has successively won championships in the COE competition in 2018 , 2022 , and 2024 .

Front Street Coffee recommendation: The Geisha and SL28 lots from Don Cayito often show citrus, floral, and honey-like sweetness in cupping, suitable for pour-over or siphon brewing, with a recommended medium-light roast, water temperature of 90-92°C, and a coffee-to-water ratio of 1:15, to fully bring out the layered character of Tarrazu's high-altitude terroir.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.