Costa Rican Coffee Story Bronka Treasure Manor Costa Rican Coffee Bean Geography

Professional barista communication, please pay attention to coffee workshop (Weixin Official Accounts cafe_style)

Today, let's talk about Taiwan bean hunting team and Costa Rica manor owner

Love and growth of coffee!

It was 2015, and when the cup tester and purchasing team of Lianjie Coffee tested samples of that year's Costa Rica Cup of Excellence (COE), they noticed a heavily honey-treated coffee...

The origin is unfamiliar to global boutique coffee buyers...

Not Tarrazu, not West Valley, not Central Valley, 150 years old...

Rivas, a town in the Brunca region, is located approximately 150 km/3.5 hours south-east of San Jose, Costa Rica's capital, and passes through an altitude of 3,000 - 3,400 meters, enough to start ringing in the ears/dizziness (mild altitude sickness?) The remote coffee producing area, which has always been considered "not good coffee producing"...

Fortunately, perhaps because some COE judges do not prefer heavy honey treatment, that year's Treasure Manor won the 33rd place, allowing Lianjie to finally bid at a fairly economical price and then introduce Taiwan...

Arriving in October 2015, the batch contained a total of 1400 kg of beans and was sold out in less than five weeks!

We were surprised to learn that Taiwanese consumers and businessmen have excellent taste and love for quality beans--

Because of the transparency of COE bidding, the son of the owner also found Lianjie, took the initiative to contact and invite us to go to the manor next year...

So, we went to Rivas for the first time in March 2016 and stepped into the Brunca region, which is rare for international coffee buyers--

This estate has been in business for about thirty years...

It was created by Regulo Gerard, the current owner...

It was a beautiful day.

The lowest point is about 1200 meters, and the highest point is 2000 meters--

He started growing coffee from the lowest point and divided it into five coffee plantations according to elevation and slope...

Over the next 20 years, he sold coffee berries to the town's processing plant, like most coffee farmers at the time...

I spent all my time taking care of the coffee tree and my family... But, this kind of income is not very good, also unstable!

It was not until 2002, when international coffee futures prices hit rock bottom, that Costa Rica began the "microprocessor revolution," where many farmers hoped their microbatches would be recognized by international boutique buyers and forever freed from the dreaded cycle of commercial coffee prices...

reguro has absolutely no object to imitate.

And with no international boutique buyers at all, decided to invest tens of thousands of dollars to buy a Penagos micro-processing plant (and named the new micro-processing plant-Rivense Rivas-)

The future of the entire coffee business and family, all staked on an unknown...

But this is not an impulsive decision! He loves and delves into the farming and processing of coffee, just as bean hunters/roasters/baristas around the world delve into transportation/preservation/roasting/blending/brewing/appreciation... All kinds of important links... Soon, he mastered the knack of honey processing! As for how to maintain the health of coffee trees and produce rich and full coffee seeds, it is already very familiar to him! However, the cruelty of reality is: before 2015, after the harvest at the beginning of each year, it is difficult for Treasure Manor to find buyers who are willing to buy these excellent beans at reasonable prices_

But he wasn't depressed... It is to continue to improve your farming and processing methods, and start participating in Costa Rica's Cup of Excellence (COE) competition...

From being able to pass the first round of the domestic selection, to the 2014 international selection, only one short of winning...

Finally, until 2015, I won the 33rd place in the COE! Therefore, in addition to being approached by the international bidding, they also had the first SCAA roaster camp visit in 2016, which was also the first SCAA camp to visit the Brunca region, and the estate has since truly connected with international boutique coffee buyers!

When the international buyers of Lianjie Coffee first visited them in March 2016...

Due to the long-term lack of funds and resources, the warehouse is very small and simple/shell refining equipment is old/some beans can only be placed under the canopy, barely shelter from the wind and rain to avoid the sun...

Seeing this situation, when both sides negotiated prices, we offered a bid that was significantly higher than other excellent Costa Rican estates...

We offer such a price with only one proviso: we hope that they will make good use of this income to invest in expanding warehouses and upgrading refining equipment...

We sincerely hope that such support will not only strengthen bilateral relations, but also stabilize and increase the quality of the estate for the next few years, so as to accept more orders from international coffee people, so as to sustain and even develop a better production capacity of fine coffee!

Within a year, they doubled the size of their warehouse, invested tens of thousands of dollars in refining equipment, replaced another higher-capacity honey processing equipment, added a greenhouse for drying honey processed coffee, and built a new two-story guest house for international visitors!

In 2016 we visited the estate alone, but in 2017 we had a lively visit from Northern Europe/USA/Canada... Foreign visitors from other countries!

Some even stayed in the guest house for several weeks, helping to learn all aspects of coffee bean processing during the harvest season--

Surprisingly, even Blue Bottle Coffee, the pioneer of the third wave of fine coffee in the world, discovered this estate/treatment plant almost at the same time as Lianjie, and expanded the purchase volume of Rivas people treatment plant year by year!!

We really feel the beauty of this career from the bottom of our hearts as we look at their huge progress this year... Of course, it's not. It is a new method of honey treatment that has never been heard of in the world.

And we tried to make some before the end of the season--although the first arrival of Treasure Manor was standard black honey treatment, we also received a few samples of "new honey treatment"--

And they really are special and have potential! We're going to choose the right time to give you a chance to try this bean--

Fortunately, Taiwan has a group of coffee lovers and a large and discerning consumer base...

So, it's an honor to connect Jie Coffee with everyone, with estate owners, with boutique bean buyers emerging all over the world... "I'm not in the mood for it. And fortunately, this story is not over yet, and it's growing and thriving with you--

And this ongoing story, let's continue from appreciating the treasure from Costa Rica--

** This year's Rivas people treatment plant, although did not win the COE award, but that is because ACE organization raised the award criteria...

Once again, the plant itself has won the 32nd National Winner overall--and the other day it won the 7.20 dollar/pound gold standard, which is even higher than the 6.00 dollar national winner, the 29th overall winner!