Don't miss that we also have a double pack of our lovely La Pira coffee here:
LA PIRA - DOUBLE PACK (Anaerobic Typica & Natural Catuaí)
About the coffee
Flavour description: This is a sweet-driven cup with heaps of fruit, reminding of tropical fruit juice. Flavour notes of mango and caramel with a zesty sing to it.
Colour: Orange
Category: Curious
Producer and owner: Carlos Ureña Ceciliano with daughter Ana Ureña Ceciliano
Farm: Finca La Pira
Region: Tarrazú
City: Santa María de Dota
Farm size: 7 hectares
Altitude: 1650 masl
Harvest: March 2022
Varietal: Catuaí
Processing: Natural
Price transparency: The FOB price paid for this coffee is 7,25 US$/lb.
Roast style: We are roasting this coffee for vibrancy and clarity in the cup, with a light to medium roast profile. The coffee is suitable for all brewing methods.
Don Carlos Ureña Ceciliano , who is owning the La Pira-farm in Dota, Terrazu, Costa Rica is an unique producer. On his 7 hectare of land, he is thinking about what the nature is giving him and how he may use it most wisely. For example he is making his own micro-organisms and is using the rest product from the process and dry-mill into gas to heat up the house and as energy to the de-pulper. But he is also extremely scientific and is doing things his own way. He is one of the most talented producers we know, and the reasons La Pira appeared in the Cup of Excellence.
For the natural process, the beans has been drying for over a month in the coffee cherry with strict schedule on how and when to turn it over. The longer drying time makes it a less ferment-aggressive taste profile, but you can still taste a little of funky in there, true tropical fruit juice in a cup!
About the farm
Carlos is working with an interesting mixture of science and biodynamic agriculture. He is going out in the morning to hear where the birds are singing, telling him what is going on where among the coffee trees, analyzing the farm by nature. Where the birds are gives him an indication of ripeness, flowering and challenges at the farm. He is making his own fertiliser and using the waste energy of the coffee processing for the coffee pulper.
Visiting La Pira and walking the farm, you never want to leave. You want to hear more about Carlos harvesting methods and turn upside down on more of his theories. With the whole family - Ureña Ceciliano, Carlos’ daughter, called Ana Ureña Ceciliano, is a great support and keeping the business on track. His grandchildren like spending time at La Pira too.
This coffee is natural processed, which means that the coffee is left to dried on raised beds. Carlos is slowing down the drying process by shadow, covering up the cherries with plastic and moving the cherries together in big piles. All done with a strict schedule that is ensuring it is dried slowly, for over a month time.
Sustainability
After inheriting the family farm, Carlos worked for many years as a certified organic coffee producer, but he realized doing so was just not possible on this farm. Organic coffee is good, but not possible for everyone. The yield was very, very affected by leaf rust a few years back. So Carlos looked for alternatives, while still holding organic and biodynamic principles very close to his heart. For instance, instead of using chemicals to control the weeds, he has sheep roaming freely among the coffee plants eating the weeds (and strangely leave the coffee plants alone). They work as automatic and mobile 'fertilization units' (nature’s a wonderful thing). This has eliminated the need for herbicides. This is the kind of thinking Carlos has about coffee. Salary for pickers are generally good in Costa Rica, but many farmers are using workers from neighbouring countries, paying cheaper salaries and sometimes working harder during the harvest. Carlos is using local workers and paying the workers more than the government established wages.
As apart of our transparency, we are sharing the FOB prices for all coffee. The Natural Catuaí from La Piras coffee was 7,25 USD per pound.
