Costa Rica, a Central American country with an area of only 51,000 square kilometers, boasts 40% primary forest coverage and uniquely favorable conditions for coffee cultivation. Don Juan Coffee Estate, located in the cloud forest, is a perfect window into rainforest coffee. From the effects of climate, topography, and soil on coffee trees, to the global distribution of coffee-producing countries, the three major native species and classic varieties, and the complete chain of planting, harvesting, primary processing, and roasting, this article systematically traces coffee's long journey from seed to cup from a firsthand perspective. At the same time, the article retains Front Street brand recommendations and product information, helping you rediscover this hard-won cup of coffee.
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Costa Rica
Its territory covers 51,100 square kilometers, slightly smaller than China's Ningxia.
In 2011, the estimated total population was about 4.586 million.
The official language is Spanish.
The population is mainly composed of whites and mestizos of European and Indigenous descent.
The political system is a presidential republic.
Its legal system belongs to the civil law tradition.
The national flower is the Cattleya, one of the world's famous orchid varieties.
The international country code is CR.
The international telephone area code is +506.
In terms of terrain, the coastal areas are plains, while the central region is divided by rugged mountains.
In terms of climate, it is tropical and subtropical, with Neotropical characteristics.
Culturally, this land once nurtured the Andean civilization, the Maya civilization, and the Central American civilizations, which can now only be found in books.
In terms of population composition, mixed-race and pure European descendants account for 94%. Early immigrants came mainly from Spain, along with many Germans, Poles, Italians, and Jews. Only a small number of Indigenous people who survived the Western invasion remain here. Black descendants who migrated from Jamaica in the 19th century make up about 3%, while Chinese people account for 1%.
Other aspects:
1. It was the first country in the world to abolish its military, with security guaranteed by the United States.
2. Before 2009, applying for a telephone number required waiting several months.
3. Primary forest covers 40% of the country.
4. Here, the concept of four distinct seasons is overturned. There are only the dry season (late December to April) and the rainy season (April to December), and the climate is hot year-round. Those who have experienced it firsthand know that heavy rain comes suddenly, especially pouring down around 4 p.m., and even an umbrella is useless.
5. Local people thoroughly enjoy the sunshine. If you open an umbrella on the street to shade yourself, you will absolutely get 100% stares.
6. The vast majority of people can sing and dance, and are lively, warm, open, and easygoing.
7. In the cities, most buildings are small bungalows; high-rise buildings are almost nowhere to be seen.
8. The country is divided into 7 provinces, and the capital is San José.
9. It established diplomatic relations with China in 2007.
10. Its economy mainly depends on tourism and agriculture, with coffee and fruit as important pillars.
11. There is a wide variety of fruit here and it tastes excellent. Fried large bananas, similar to bananas, are a local specialty, and it is said that this large green banana cannot be eaten directly. Black beans with rice is also a traditional food. Various foods blend multiple cultures and are rich and colorful.
Don Juan Coffee Estate
Don Juan Coffee Estate is located in the Monteverde cloud forest. Exploring coffee was our first project in the cloud rainforest. I have organized what I learned on this coffee journey into this article. After reading it, you will gain a new understanding of coffee. At the very least, you will understand not to waste coffee, because it truly does not come easily.
"A cup of perfect coffee is as black as the devil, as hot as hell, as pure as an angel, and as sweet as love."
— French diplomat Talleyrand
1. To grow high-quality coffee trees, suitable planting sites must be chosen based on climate, terrain, and soil.
Climate: Direct sunlight year-round, abundant heat, and sufficient rainfall.
The "Coffee Belt" lies in the tropical region between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. As a tropical cash crop, coffee trees grow in the Coffee Belt with superior climate, where there is direct sunlight all year round and abundant heat and rainfall, with an average annual temperature above 20 degrees Celsius. However, high temperatures, high humidity, and strong sunlight are not something all coffee varieties can withstand. For example, Arabica cannot tolerate them, so it is usually planted at higher elevations, and if the sunlight is too strong, shading is also needed. This is how the terms "rainforest coffee" and "shade-grown coffee" came about. In May this year, I volunteered in Costa Rica, and in my spare time I visited a local coffee estate. The coffee here is exactly rainforest coffee.
Terrain: Coffee trees should not be planted in cold-air channels. Open south-facing slopes with no winter frost and little wind are preferred. However, shady slopes may sometimes also be a good choice because the slower growth cycle can improve quality. At the same time, overly steep slopes are unfavorable for planting, harvesting, and soil fertility retention. For example, coffee cultivation in Yunnan emphasizes slopes of less than 25 degrees.
Soil: Coffee has a shallow root system. Soil rich in organic matter (good fertility retention), with plenty of moisture (good drainage), deep soil layers (usually more than 1 meter), and slight acidity are all conditions suitable for coffee growth. The reason Guatemala, Brazil, Colombia, as well as Hawaii in the United States, Blue Mountain in Jamaica, Java in Indonesia, and Yunnan in China can become excellent coffee-producing regions is closely related to the presence of this kind of volcanic soil or forest soil.
2. The world's top ten coffee-producing countries
About 70 countries around the world produce and export coffee beans, but both yield and quality vary greatly. Here, the top ten in "2010 global coffee production" published by the ICO (International Coffee Organization) are cited: Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, Indonesia, Ethiopia (the country of origin), India, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and Peru. Six of them are located in South America and Central America, a region that supplies 70% of the world's coffee.
3. The three major native species of coffee:
Coffea Arabica
Coffea Robusta
Coffea Liberica
4. Coffee varieties:
There are many coffee varieties on the market today, but in essence they are all descendants of these three native species crossed in different proportions, with relatively stable heredity and biological consistency.
Bourbon and Typica are currently the oldest Arabica coffee tree varieties.
"Mundo Novo" is a hybrid of Bourbon and Typica, with good flavor, high yield, tall trees, large beans, and strong resistance to pests and diseases.
Geisha is truly a remarkable gem in the genetic treasure trove of Ethiopia, coffee's homeland. Its coffee beans are slender in shape and glossy, with the best quality produced at high altitudes. It has a captivating aroma, a clean taste, lively acidity, and excellent sweetness. Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and other countries all grow it in small quantities, but yields are very low and the input-to-output ratio is not high.
There are also many other varieties, such as Pache, Blue Mountain, Pacamara, Catimor, and so on...
5. The place of origin of coffee:
Ethiopia
6. Coffee cultivation:
Coffee is a plant with both male and female parts in the same flower and is self-pollinating. Its five-petaled pure white coffee flowers are richly fragrant. Planting generally follows a five-year cycle.
7. The planting process:
Coffee seeds are soaked in warm water for 24 hours. After sowing, they germinate in 40 to 60 days. When the seedlings grow 4 to 5 pairs of true leaves, they can be taken out of the nursery and planted in the field. Spacing varies by variety. Both temporary shade trees and permanent shade trees are necessary, such as peanuts for temporary shade and albizia for permanent shade.
It takes 3 years for a coffee tree to grow from a seedling into a tree that can flower and bear fruit. After fruiting, it enters its high-yield period in the 5th to 7th year. After its economic life of about 20 years ends, the coffee tree gradually ages, and at this point it needs to be cut back and otherwise treated to welcome new life.
On each node where a cluster of white flowers blooms, as many as a dozen or as few as a few coffee cherries will grow. The coffee fruit is a fleshy berry. As it matures, the outer skin gradually changes from green to red or purplish red (a few are yellow). This ripening period takes 8 to 10 months. The fruits on the same coffee tree do not ripen at the same time, and the differences across altitudes are enormous.
8. Harvesting coffee
Harvesting coffee cherries is divided into manual picking and mechanical harvesting, with the harvest in November, December, and January each year. Manual picking is not only costly, but the process is also quite arduous. Therefore, during every harvest season at coffee estates in Costa Rica, the estates are full of black workers from Panama. According to the person who explained it, for picking red cherries, a skilled worker can pick at most 10 baskets a day. Fully red cherries are 4 dollars per basket, and one basket is about 1 kilogram. Green cherries are 2 dollars per basket.
Coffee made from a mixture of red and green cherries is of poor quality. As far as I understand, in China, after one skilled picker works continuously for a week, the green coffee beans obtained after primary processing from all the fruit picked can only fill one standard burlap sack (60 to 70 kilograms). Some experts have calculated that, based on 2012 market conditions, the labor cost of picking 1 kilogram of fresh cherries is about 1 yuan. For plantations, labor and other costs during the harvest period may account for half of total global costs.
Mechanical harvesting is suitable for plains areas, but not for mountainous areas.
9. Primary processing:
To ensure quality and avoid secondary contamination, freshly picked cherries should be pulped and otherwise processed on the same day as much as possible so that the skin is separated from the seeds. Primary processing is divided into the dry method and the washed method. The washed method has a higher overall cost, but the resulting coffee has a smoother and more delicate taste, so it sells for a higher price. (Those interested in the specific processing methods can look them up on their own.) After a series of processing steps, green coffee beans are born. However, for merchants, parchment beans are better for storage.
10. Coffee preparation:
Coffee preparation is also a major factor affecting whether coffee is good or bad. The roasting time of green coffee beans determines the lightness or heaviness of the coffee's taste, and dark-roasted coffee beans contain relatively less caffeine than light-roasted ones. Caffeine content is proportional to extraction time; caffeine is water-soluble.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
