La Chumeca micro-mill is located in the beautiful San Pablo de León Cortés, part of the Tarrazú zone in Costa Rica. We were lucky enough to visit this coffee oasis back in 2018 and then again in 2024 (full trip report here). This is our third year in a row that we've been able to access this delicious coffee through green importer DR Wakefield.
La Chumeca is a family project started in 2014. Producer Martin Ureña Quirós began with the intention of improving the quality of the coffee from the family farm. Since its inception the mill has focused only on Natural processing, and more recently with Anaerobic processing and other modern processing techniques. La Chumeca has become well known in Costa Rica for its quality coffees, many of which have featured on stage at national barista championships.
The family’s property is the mill and contains a number of impressive spaces dedicated to production of coffee. Just a few meters from the entrance to their house is the “fermentation station,” consisting of a dozen stainless steel tanks lined up under a wooden structure. This space is monitored closely by mathematician and coffee farmer Emilio. Just past this fermentation space is a trail that leads through the forested area which acts as veins throughout the coffee fields. Beyond the trail is the drying space, surrounded by coffee trees and interlaced with immaculately maintained grass, flowers, and ponds. The drying area is overlooked by a tree house that has wonderful views of the drying beds, as well as the wide-stretching slopes of coffee full of Tarrazú character.
Spread across the four farms at different altitudes are a number of varieties including the traditional Caturra-Catuai, Montana H17 (a cross between Catuai and Ethiopian landrace e521), Costa Rica 95, and Geisha. They also plant a variety of fruit trees across the various altitudes to attract a mix of birds, which helps maintain pest predation. Currently they process a total of 25 different lots of farms, varieties and processes, all sun-dried in the most beautiful of settings.
This lot of Catuai coffee underwent a double fermentation Natural process that the family calls the “777” process, named after a Mexican film starring Mario Moreno Cantineflas called 'El Patrullero 777' that says a lot and yet nothing at the same time. Very random, but nice to know it's nothing to do with something tangible or measurable as is the industry norm. For this '777' process, the first phase is oxidation in open orange bags, then into sealed stainless steel containers for the anaerobic part.
Both aerobic and anaerobic fermentation is used while the cherries are still whole. Internal and external temperature and the pH of the fermentation environment are strictly monitored during the process. After both phases of fermentation are complete, the cherries are dried on raised beds. Throughout drying the thickness of the layer of cherries is managed to increase or decrease the speed of drying as needed in order to maintain the optimal drying time.
I'd taken a bag of their 777 Catuai with me from last season to give to them as a gift and it was another humbling moment seeing their eyes light up. Don Martin (papa) said something when he received the bag that re-enforced what this 'business' is all about - it's the connections you make: "In this moment with this beautiful gift I am very happy and I can forget the hardships of the season".