Sometimes a New Roaster is Necessary

Sometimes I just get frustrated with roasters.  Sometimes I get tired with roasters that want me to bring in the coffee to be processed then return the next day to pick it up.  Yes, I mean some of them don't want me hanging around the 2-3 hours for them to complete the processing.  It doesn't take a lot of insight to realize that it's better to not leave one's coffee unattended.

I got flustered really quickly with the roaster that put the "ground coffee" in the bags for "whole grain" and visa versa.  Sorta messes up the sales angle.  

And I've never been happy with the roasters that crank up the roasting fire a LOT, resulting in part of the grains burning - and obviously changing the flavor of the coffee.

In other words, we've come across a list of unsatisfactory issues.  But I swear this one is different. The name of the place is Cafe Haug in San Pablo, fairly close to Santa Maria de Dota, the coffee growing heart of Costa Rica.  

Granted it's a 3 hour drive one-way through the mountains on a two lane, super windy road.  I had my doubts it would prove to be worth the trouble.  But I must say I was delighted at the service and the attitudes of these youngsters.  Plus the resultant coffee was the best.  Actually, the experience resembled a visit to Coffee Processing Disneyland.

Their official office and waiting room, featuring their own brand of coffee in the rack on the wall.

Complete with an open coffee bar

They mix specialty blends.

This is their stage one coffee processor for beginning to remove the parchment covering from the coffee grain.

Roberto appears to be the brains behind cleaning the coffee grains.  This is the machine he uses for stage two of removing the parchment coating of the coffee grain.

A super cool gas fired coffee roaster with a 10 kilogram capacity.

Grinding, weighing and sealing the coffee

This French Press coffee maker must hold around 30 ounces of coffee and keeps it warm for a long time.  Roberto mixes his own preferred special blend of coffees, then roasts it to a medium roast in order to preserve the full flavor of the natural coffee.  It's available for customers to enjoy, along with some sweet bread. 

If you drink our coffee, we'd love to hear what you think of this latest roast.  Yes, it is a medium to medium dark roast but there's a reason for not going for the darker tones. The darker roast may be "stronger" however when coffee is roasted that long, many of the volatile oils get burned off along with the flavor notes they could have added to your next cup of coffee.  The volatile oils hold the more delicate flavors.

In my opinion, the flavor of our coffee roasted at Cafe Haug was superior to nearly all of the four other roasters we've tried.  Roberto treats each batch of coffee that he roasts like it is his own personal coffee.

The other really good coffee processor is right here in this little valley.  This inventive guy uses equipment that he made himself for cleaning and roasting his own coffee that he grows.  That's amazing.  The only issue is that his roasting set up only processes 2 kilograms at a time.  When needing to roast 25 kilograms, that could take a while.  But nevertheless, it's quite the experience hanging out with the family including all their pets while helping out where possible.  

After all the work of planting the coffee plants then intimately caring for each and every one for years, then harvesting, depulping and drying the coffee - I feel really let down when I'm not satisfied with the final roasting.  Both of these coffee roasters give me hope for the future.  

 Here's our coffee presentation:

Organic coffee at its finest.  This year's coffee harvest.

We haven't roasted any of this year's coffee yet but it sure looks gorgeous. 

Also, to let you know that our newly published book, Leaving Behind Normalcy, is now available on Amazon in hard copy and as an E-book.  Here's where you can find both formats:

Paperback and E-book: "Leaving Behind Normalcy"

For a different perspective on becoming an expat, I recommend checking it out.  

Finca de Cafe

Coffee does not come from Starbucks. Mention Starbucks here and nobody even knows the name.




We all know this, but when we visited the beautiful Finca Ocaso near Salento we really gained an appreciation for all the work that it takes to produce quality ORGANIC coffee.

Almost everything seems to be done by hand because the land is very steep and tractors simply would not work.

The work begins with the planting of the coffee beans in seed beds filled with river sand. Four months later the best seedlings are transplanted into pots filled with the rich local soil. After eight months in a greenhouse they are transplanted out into the finca.



At the age of 33 months the little bush begins producing fruit, and produces continuously. Every 2 weeks for the next 4 years the coffee must be harvested - only the red cherries, not the green, and all by hand. OUr tour guide Marcos shows pictures of how coffee is mechanically harvested in Brazil and explains that is why their coffee is so inferior for drinking.

After 4 years of production the plants can be cut back for resprouting. This process requires 18 months to 3 years depending on how it's done, and then coffee can be harvested from that plant again for another 3 years.

This finca uses only one chemical input and that is a small amount of phosphate fertilizer that is added to a kilogram of organic compost during the planting process.

During the harvest 20 to 30 pickers each pick about 200 Kg of coffee berries per day, for which they are paid about 400 pesos per Kg. So a good picker can make 40 to 50 dollars per day in US dollars.

All of the coffee processing, including separation of the bean from the cherry, removal of the "mucilage" from the bean, and solar drying of the beans.

There are so many types of coffee defects that are removed by hand, and amazingly at the end there is about a ton of coffee harvested per hectare (2.45 acres).

Marcos served a cup of his best proudly at the end of our tour. And offered to help us buy and operate the finca next door.

Thoughts of living in a small hacienda out in this stunningly beautiful part of Colombia have spun in our heads ever since. The wildlife and birds are plentiful here (fox, coyote, ocelot, parrots). The water comes directly out of the high mountains east of here and is absolutely pure.

What a pleasant dream.