Hello my name is Eric Galloway and during my recent trip to Costa Rica I was fortunate enough to visit Dota Coffee Cooperative. I was impressed with the passion the employees had for the coffee industry. Costa Rica's most famous coffee growing regions are Tarrazu and Dota because of the mineral rich soil and ideal climate. Dota cooperative is located high in the mountains of the Santa Maria de Dota District. They were recognized as the world's first carbon neutral coffee producer in 2011.
Dota strives for a quality product from beginning to end. Over 90% of the towns income is from coffee production through either farming, picking, milling or transportation. This teamwork helps to support the entire community. Dota farm is the longest running coffee cooperative in Costa Rica. Due to the quality, craftsmanship and attention to detail made this the perfect variety to sell at SLO Roasted Coffee.
So, pick up a pound or two of this wonderful, limited roast coffee and treat yourself to a mini vacation high in the cloud forests of Coast Rica.
Dota cooperative has been able to speed up the tree growing process considerably by using clones. What use to take several years before the tree reaches maturity now takes six months by using clones. This is a greenhouse full of coffee tree clones.
This is a picture of the beans at different stages of processing and milling until they reach the final stage of finished green beans. The bottom right tray is the finished bean ready for roasting.
These are the ripe coffee cherries freshly picked from the tree ready for milling and processing.
This is the cupping process. Hot water is added to the coffee grounds to bring out the aroma and enable each person to take a spoonful and slurp the coffee and bring to life the exciting characteristic of each variety.
A traditional method of brewing coffee in Cost Rica is the Chorreador. This old fashioned system yields strong flavor without the hassle of a coffee brewer. Ground coffee is placed into the coffee sock and hot water is poured through the coffee sock to brew a traditional cup of Costa Rican coffee. Sometimes the simple is the best!