Located in the mountainous region of Tarrazu, La Minita plantation produces one of the finest coffees in the world. Our visit to the La Minita plantation in 1999 was a true education in how a coffee farm should be managed. Owner, Bill McAlpin, oversees every phase of the operation from preparation of the seedlings to the hand sorting that creates this superb coffee.
Combinations of soils, rainy and dry seasons, intense sunlight and perfect temperatures make this area of Tarrazu ideal for growing coffee. Modern roads, housing and medical facilities allow workers to enjoy high quality living standards and to attend the cultivation and harvesting with great care. While the coffee trees are flowering and the cherries are ripening, the farmers attend to pruning, replanting, weeding with machetes, fertilizing and caring for shade trees. After picking, the crop is milled and prepared for shipment with only 30% meeting the strict standards that define La Minita coffee. This meticulous preparation is unrivaled in the coffee industry resulting in a product that has been called the "champagne" of coffees.