COSTA RICA SEILYN JIMENEZ ANAEROBIC

Seilyn, her husband Alberto, and their 3 children work together to make up their family wet mill. The farm that they grow and process coffee from has been in Alberto’s family for many years. The family is passionate about growing quality coffee and are very sentimental about where they are from as well as the family farm. Each one of them has sacrificed and given it their all to maintain the farm and improve quality and sustainability. 

Seylin gets emotional when she tells the story and struggle of the farm and family - fighting to get ahead. They started to try and enter the specialty market by processing a small amount of their harvest as naturals. Historically they have delivered their coffee fruit to large wet mills and multinational companies, but it’s possible to earn more for coffees they process on their own and sell like micro lots. 

La Loma is a farm located in the San Carlos area of Tarrazu, overlooking the Pirris River Damn. When you walk through the farm you can feel the love and care put into the maintenance of the land by this family. At 1500 - 1600 meters above sea level this well shaded plantation is thriving, planted with Catuai, Obata, and Milenio. It sits on the western face of a mountain ridge where the coffee gets soft afternoon sun and cloud cover from the Pacific Ocean. 

Seylin and Alberto pay their harvesters extra to select the best cherries for their natural process. The freshly picked fruit is put in large stainless steel tanks for 3-5 days. Afterwards, it gets put out on the raised drying beds beside their home by Seylin and the kids. They keep the coffee piled up in mounds and don’t move or turn it very much for the first 2 or 3 days - encouraging a fermentation to take place. After that short period, they begin to extend the cherries out over the raised beds in a thin layer. The drying coffee gets moved at least 6 times a day and is sorted of imperfections at the same time. Drying naturals takes an immense amount of time, space, effort, and risk and so we appreciate this coffee that takes between 3 weeks and a month to complete. 

Costa Rica has been producing some of our favorite anaerobic coffees in recent years. We love how you can taste the anaerobic fermentation in the coffee's rich sweetness and in its effervescent mouthfeel. Seilyn Jimenez and her family are meticulous about their anaerobic fermentation and it shows in the complexity of this coffee.