El Rodeo

Description

Flavour: Cacao Nibs, Cherry, Dark Caramel, Citrus

Producer: El Rodeo, Cristian Alvarez

Weight: 250 gram – 1000 gram

Process: Honey

Elevation: 1600 MASL

Harvested: January-March

Christian Alvarez is native to his town of Jorco in the Tarrazú region, just a 45 minute drive from San José. Despite being so close to Costa Rica’s capital, the ambience couldn’t be more different.  Christian’s farm, El Rodeo, looks down on a handful of small towns connected by a single road dotted with homes and businesses. The 20-hectare property is planted with mainly Caturra and Catuaí varieties grown under the protective shade of the Poró trees.

By profession, Christian is a lawyer and by passion he is a coffee businessman. He purchased the farm in 2012 when his father, Olman Alvarez, retired from working for the government. When Olman was younger, he used to work in the coffee fields; now he is more than happy to be back. Ever since Christian bought the farm, father and son have been working together to renovate and make the most of the property. Christian directs the strategy and his dad makes it happen: a true family operation.

Harvested coffee is transported daily from the farm to the Palmichal mill where the coffee is processed in their superb micromill. The first ever coffee that was processed as a microlot at the Palmichal micromill was Christian’s coffee. The elevation, shade grown techniques, and Christian and his father’s excellent care make coffees from El Rodeo prime candidates for the Palmichal microlot program.

Method: Honey method. The skin of the coffee fruit is removed, leaving the sweet mucilage on the bean, that is then dried on raised beds or in the large mechanical dryers called guardiolas