Costa Rica Purchase Planning

Posted on May 11th, 2022

PURCHASE PLANNING

We have designed our purchase planning tools with you in mind to make buying coffee with us smoother than ever. By purchase planning, you can make decisions based on the most up-to-date information on current crop offerings with expert guidance from our sales reps working closely with our green buyers at origin. Planning ahead for this year’s Costa Rican harvest allows you first access to a wider variety of fresh-crop lots, the opportunity for greater possible creative sourcing outside our typical offerings, and the assurance of coverage throughout the year until the following harvest season. Costa Rica offers a wide variety of versatile cup profiles and our sales reps are here to plan ahead with you to find creative solutions for your business needs, whatever they may be!

As the first Central American country to have a fully established coffee industry, the modern-day Costa Rican market has a strong reputation for producing a diversity of profiles from its various growing regions. Between the breadth of varieties grown here, the distinct and varied regional profiles, and our very own full-service import-export operation  – Oxcart Coffee – planning ahead with us for your Costa Rican purchases offers you a unique opportunity to source coffees specifically tailored to your needs.

OXCART COFFEE

CAFE IMPORTS LATIN AMERICA

Motivated by the desire to work directly with growers, build better connections, and keep a closer eye on the quality and logistics of all coffee shipments leaving Costa Rica bound for Cafe Imports’ sales offices around the globe, we opened the doors of our import-export operation, Oxcart Coffee, in 2018.

Since then, our green buyer, Luis Arocha, and our supply chain specialist, Adriana Abarca, have overseen the sourcing, development, and movement of some of the world’s finest coffees from Costa Rica. In everything we do, we look to build reliable, supportive, and consistent relationships at origin and the work we do through Oxcart is no different.

“Oxcart is a Costa Rican export company, but Cafe Imports is a worldwide company,” Luis says. “The idea is to be able to share all that knowledge and experience of all of our years with everybody—bringing coffee people and producers to the Oxcart office to create and be more part of the community. The coffee community is growing in Costa Rica and I want to be part of it.” These days, Luis, Adriana, and the rest of the Oxcart team work with over fifteen micromills, all of which they have worked with for more than five years as our relationships in Costa Rica began long before the inception of Oxcart.

Through our work at Oxcart, our aim is to continue to work with the same micromills year after year to focus on building quality with our longstanding partners. The Oxcart Coffee office is not simply a place to do the business of selling coffee, but also a resource for local producers. By hosting open cuppings at our onsite roasting lab, offering opportunities for consultation and education, and creating a space for candid conversations about coffee, quality, and production, we hope to continue to establish Oxcart as a place where our producer partners can grow and prosper with us.

PRODUCER HIGLIGHTS

Our microlot offerings from Costa Rica are clean, complex, and nuanced cup options for anyone looking for a high-quality single-origin or espresso option. These represent the best of the best from our long-term partnerships, cared for and supported by our team at Oxcart. Below are just a few of the many outstanding partners we work with in Costa Rica. To learn more about our producer partners, get in touch with your sales rep! We love sharing the stories behind our coffees with you.

Las Lajas Micromill

If there’s one origin that has nearly perfected the process of processing, it’s Costa Rica, and if there’s one producer that’s been setting the standards on quality, innovation, and leading by example — it’s Francisca Chacon of Las Lajas Micromill. Las Lajas was one of the first micromills to produce honey and naturally-processed microlots in Costa Rica and ever since they have been perfecting over 6 specific processes largely based on the varieties they cultivate.

La Margarita Micromill

On Finca La Margarita in Costa Rica, Heinz Hoffman has owned and operated 13 hectares of land since 1976, farming coffee on this microlot since 1987. Over the decades, he has kept meticulous weather records and detailed information about his crops, including a study of annual rainfall, which reflects the dramatic effects of climate change in his area.⁠⁠ For many of our producer partners, coffee is more than just a livelihood. It is an opportunity for radical development in agricultural practices and a chance to cultivate ongoing care for their communities and we’re proud to work alongside producers that share our values.

Alto San Juan Micromill

Alto San Juan Micromill is owned by an intrepid young producer named Diego Abarca, who took a plot of land from his family’s farm, given to him by his father, and transformed it into a successful business as a coffee producer in his own right. His yields have grown every year, allowing him space to experiment with processing in addition to implementing systems for tighter quality control. While he primarily focuses on Washed coffees in order to streamline his processing, Diego has recently begun experimenting with Honey and Natural processes as well.

TIMELINE

Planning now always pays off later, here’s how simple planning can be:

NOW

Now is a great time to start speaking to your sales rep about your Costa Rican needs. By getting in touch ahead of time, you can take advantage of a larger selection of offerings to choose from.

FEBRUARY

Samples from Costa Rica will be available from February through June.

DECEMBER – MAY

Café Vida and Community Coffees have already shipped with microlot offerings beginning to ship this month.

APRIL – JUNE

Café Vida and Community Coffees are already available. We expect microlots to become available in June after they arrive.

CURRENT CROP

Our team at Oxcart confirms that the harvest this year is on schedule across all quality levels.

The quality this year is lower than usual combined with lower volume. Due to lower volume this year we are seeing smaller availability of microlots.

We expect shipments out of Costa Rica to be on schedule this harvest season.

As we strive to work closely with our customers, our current offerings are representative of the general needs of our specialty coffee community. That being said, we have access to coffees far beyond our offerings list thanks to our extensive sourcing programs around the world — all you need to do is reach out to us. If there’s something that you’re looking for, we’d love to work with you and our sourcing team to turn your needs into a reality.

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