COSTA RICA LOS TONOS NATURAL

There is something special happening in the southernmost coffee growing region of Costa Rica. In an area previously known for mediocre coffee quality - a few select families are venturing out into the specialty industry and we are absolutely loving it. The Alvarado Family, in particular, have set themselves apart in the small village of Rivas at the foot of Chirripo, the tallest peak in Costa Rica. Over the years they have been planting coffee trees higher and higher in altitude, selecting unique varieties, and constructed their own processing station in order to produce outstanding lots. The family is extremely motivated and ambitious to continue growing and creating some of the most attractive coffees coming out of the country. This year, they placed 3rd in COE with their Milenio Variety. We can see a lot of future potential in this producing family as well as the growing area they are in overall.

Los Tonos is named after the previous owner of the farm as well as the right hand worker of the farmer, Johnny, and his son who is very involved in the business is named Tono too. They bought the property from Tono 5 years ago and it already had bad, old coffee planted; so they re-planted with a new and burgeoning hybrid variety called Milenio, an F1 cross between Rume Sudan and Timor 2596, in that time it was coming out and said to be good so they took a chance on it with 3000 plants from CATIE. After 1 year of planting the coffee, the trees immediately began to give fruit. The lot is in La Piedra de Rivas and has an elevation of 1500-1700masl. Last year they won 3rd place with this coffee. This plantation is already full of coffee, but they are planting more Milenio in other areas.

The family goes out and collects the cherries in the field doing their best to ensure optimal cherry selection with their harvesters. The fruit is brought to their mill and dumped into a receiving tank which is under shade. The coffee fruit is left in the tank for 3 or 4 days in order to encourage a controlled fermentation in the fruit. Then, the cherries are passed through a recycled water floating system before being put out to dry on raised beds in little piles. Similarly to the honey, the mounds are moved only once or twice a day for the first few days. As the coffee gets drier and drier the family spreads out the parchment and moves it more frequently about every hour or so. The total dry time on this coffee is 25-30 days and requires far more care when preparing for export.

This year, the Los Tonos natural lot is full of rich sugary and jammy notes. In the cup it has a bright berry sweetness which carries through until the last sip.