Costa Rica
Tarrazu, Hacienda La Minita, Lot No. 068

    La Minita is approaching legendary status.  The property has become justifiably famous under the ownership of Bill McAlpin, an American who has devoted his life to producing the best coffee possible in the mountains of Costa Rica.
    The Tarrazu region is a rugged area in central Costa Rica, west and south of the capital San Jose.  Coffee has been cultivated there for two hundred years.  Bill chose steep mountainous land rising from the Tarrazu river for his farm, named for a small mine “La Minita” nearby.  The soil, climate, altitude and exposure to sunlight are ideal for growing the arabica hybrids Caturra and Catui.  The farm is about 500 acres and ranges in elevation from 4,000 to 7,000 feet.  The coffee plants flower in April and the fruit ripens during our summer months.  Picking begins in October and continues through March.
    A modern infrastructure of roads, workshops and employee housing facilitate the processing of the coffee.  Bill owns his own mill, where the beans are pulped, washed, dried, milled, sorted and graded, and bagged for shipment.  Classification and separation of different qualities are carried out at each step, and only a small percentage of the finest, ripest beans are selected for the La Minita mark, their flagship brand.  I know of no other coffee that is so carefully processed and prepared. 

Personal Appraisal: One cannot help but be humbled, if not staggered by the greatness of this coffee.  I have never tasted a finer Tarrazu.  Rich and full-bodied, bright sparkling acidity, and elegant flavor characterize the cup.  The flavor is sweet and clean, with notes of milk chocolate, ripe fruit and fine herbs.  A refined coffee of exceptional refinement, breed and finesse.