Costa Rica Pérez Zeledón Washed SHB/EP 2023

Washed Processed Green Coffee Beans

This fully washed Costa Rican coffee was produced by Volcafe Way certified smallholders in Paramo in Costa Rica’s Pérez Zeledón department. Small coffee farms dot the southeastern slopes of the Talamanca mountain range where this lot was cultivated. After picking, ripe red coffee cherries were delivered to our receiving stations, then fully washed at the El General Mill, our mill in Pérez Zeledón.

Pérez Zeledón

Costa Rica’s tallest mountain, Cerro Chirripo (3,820 masl), boarders the Pérez Zeledón area to the northwest and Panama at its southeast border. Irregular topography, abundant rivers and a diverse ecosystem, provide ideal conditions for producing unique coffees.

Coffee is central to Pérez Zeledón's history. It was brought to the region and cultivated by migrants from Costa Rica’s Central Valley towards the end of the 19th century. The settlers found the climate conditions and richness of the soil ideal for coffee cultivation. Coffee help to elevate the social and economic development of Pérez Zeledón and generated a culture of values and principles built on family unity.

Volcafe Way

This coffee was sourced from our Volcafe Way Cluster in Pérez Zeledón. The Volcafe Way program is a free service available to coffee farmers. Volcafe Way seeks to empower growers to better manage their farms, optimize their production and enjoy sustainable profitability. Our field technicians routinely work with farmers to help with best practices in agronomy and farm management.

Green Coffee Bean Quality

A Strictly Hard Bean (SHB) green coffee must be grown at an altitude of 1,200 meters above sea level or higher. When coffee grows at high altitudes, the coffee cherries mature more slowly. This allows the fruit to take in more nutrients, resulting in denser, sweeter coffee beans that are considered higher quality. During dry milling, the lot was further sorted to European Preparation (EP) specifications with a minimum screen size of 15 and above and a maximum of eight defects within 300 grams.

About Costa Rican Unroasted Coffee Beans

Costa Rica coffees sell at a premium. The country has a reputation for delivering high quality and for innovation – a winning combination. Costa Rica’s quality socio-economic infrastructure programs such as universal healthcare, high education levels, sophisticated agronomy and research, and well-regulated agricultural sustainability programs certainly contribute to the high cost of coffee. Additionally, when coffee roasters buy Costa Rican green coffee, producers receive nearly 80% of the FOB value, guaranteed. Read more in our Costa Rica Green Coffee Origin Report.