Heres what Falcon Speciality the importer of this coffee have to say about it.
La Candelilla Mill is located just outside San Marcos in the highland valley of Tarrazú, southwest Costa Rica. It was established in 2000 by the Sánchez family—third-generation coffee producers—who wanted to add value to their product by taking control of the process. The farms and mill are run by seven siblings and cover a total of 70 hectares of planted coffee.
The family’s focus has been on good farming practices that lead to high-quality coffee. Soil samples are sent to the national research center, ICAFE, every year so that fertilizing and planting can be fine-tuned according to the results. Chemicals are used but alongside biodynamic pest control techniques, and pulp from the wet mill is applied as an organic fertilizer.
Nine to ten pickers help the family during the season, harvesting the Caturra, Red and Yellow Catuai, Typica, Geisha, and a small amount of SL28 cherry varieties. Samples are taken during picking to assess the number of floaters, immature beans, and broca (coffee borer beetle) affected beans, and to calculate an estimated yield for the lot. The mill receives around 2,000 fanegas (1 fanega = 250 kg of cherries/46 kg of green beans) every year.
The washed and honey-processed coffees are first processed through a Penagos machine, which uses only 215 liters of water (down from 500 liters due to refined techniques). From the wet mill, the coffee passes through a pipe to a patio where it is spread for drying. All naturals and more fragile varieties start their drying on African (raised) beds before being moved to patios. The naturals are left untouched for two days to avoid any damage to the cherries; it takes 17–22 days to complete natural drying and 7–10 days for semi-washed.
The way the coffee dries dictates the process that will be followed. The longer the drying, the darker the honey. The coffee is covered at night if it is not too wet (to avoid steam). At the end of the process, the coffee is piled before bagging to achieve greater temperature consistency. Up to 2,900 fanegas can be stored and processed on the premises—the Typica and Geisha are stored in plastic bags and jute in the coolest part of the warehouse, covered to avoid dust.
