Rio Jorco is a medium-size mill by "micromill" standards, producing fewer than 3,000 fanegas, the rough equivalent of about 2,000 exportable bags of green coffee. (A fanega is a standard unit of measure for coffee in Costa Rica: It is a metal box into which producers tender their cherry for measurement and payment, as Costa Rican coffees are collected by volume, not weight.)
The third-generation owners of the mill are focused on quality and in growing not only their own business, but also empowering their neighboring coffee farmers: At the beginning of the harvest, Rio Jorco will buy cherry from the surrounding farms, whose owners don't have the equipment to do their own milling. Rio Jorco pays the current market price to the farmer up front, then processes the coffees as microlots and sells them in separate chops with the farm and farmer's name attached for traceability. Any premium that the coffee demands from the market for quality is paid back to the producer at the end of the harvest.
For more information about coffee production in Costa Rica, visit our Costa Rica Origin Page.
