 The
Down to Earth Natural Harvest coffee is the only Costa Rican
Estate Organic coffee available from the Dota Mountains.
Organically farmed as an exclusive for Down to Earth and turned
over to us immediately after the berries are harvested, these
organic coffee beans are guaranteed to be 100% organic and
grown at the heart of the Strictly Hard Bean range.
Just like the beans from our own farm, this Dota organic
coffee enjoys the careful Down to Earth processing standards
that guarantee superb quality.
But, what is Dota? Dota, or Santa Maria
de Dota, is a microclimate within the legendary Tarrazu region
in Costa Rica and where this Dota Estate Organic is farmed.
Tarrazu is known as one of the three finest coffee regions
in the planet, and is so highly regarded by the coffee connoiseurs
that people tend to overlook the small, lesser known Dota
micro-climate andthe exceptional coffee it produces.
The Dota Estate Organic is superb coffee. Whether you want
to consider it a Dota Estate or a Tarrazu Estate, this product
is a labor of love and a testimony to the dedication of the
Down to Earth family in Costa Rica.
 The
main ingredient in the Dota Estate Natural Harvest coffee
is the finest Arabica Catuai and Caturra beans, organically-farmed
in a small estate located just over a mile from our farm,
grown at an average of 5,500 feet of altitude, at the heart
of the (SHB) Strictly Hard Bean range, just about 300 feet
below our altitude level. This organic estate has been certified
for 5 years now.
These beans are only picked ripe by the best in our crew. The work is slower than normal but they are compensated for this special work with a much higher wage. |
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 Great
beans are handled and processed in a very special way and
these beans are no exception. We use the latest technology
in portable eco-friendly milling to peel the beans right when
they are harvested, guaranteeing zero wait period and no possibility
of fermentation.
With the traditional technology used by the industry, the beans picked throughout the day are processed at night. Due to the sugar present in the coating of the bean (mucilage), this long waiting period ignites a fermentation process
that can affect the flavor.
Another advantage of our equipment is that it washes off the mucilage in the bean using a centrifuge, avoiding the most dangerous step in the traditional milling process: the fermentation pool. A common step in the arcaic milling model,
the fermentation pool takes an average of 9 hours and is the step that can either make or break the quality of the bean, plus it generates a dangerous quantity of natural pollutants.
By the action of the centrifuge that we use, the beans are washed within minutes of being peeled and ready to be laid under the sun.
 Our equipment is regarded as the latest technology in ecofriendly milling.
It peels the coffee bean and washes off the sugar coating (mucilage) in a single process that does not last more than 10 minutes. The waste products are then split in two and sent to differentes proccesses. The water with the
mucilage and its very high acidity (a Ph of 3) is sent to a biogestor; the skins are sent to the dried out and then turned into organic fertilizer.
In our process, water consumption is kept at minimum, ten gallons per each 600 pounds of coffee berries to be exact. This is a very small fraction of the water used by the regular wet milling process and another reason that we feel
very proud of our process..
The water that contains the mucilage is kept in tanks where a bacteria cocktail called INDIGO is added. These bacteria multiply by 20 times in 72 hous and eat the mucilage present in the water, accelerating the degradation of the organic
matter. After this step, the water is transfered to a 375 gallon BIO-digestor where a final process takes place over a four day period. By the time the entire process is finished, the water that we used is crystal clear and ready to
be back in the farm's creek.
In a regular coffee mill, this process lasts up to 14 hours, including the 9 hours in the fermentation pools that are needed for the enzime to form and eath the mucilage. Besides running the risk of affecting the quality of the coffee,
this type of milling creates a foul odor that permeates beyond the vecinity of the mill.
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 At the end of our process, the portable mill mashes the peel so it can be dried under the sun, the first step of the process to turn it
into a great organic fertilizer full of nitrogen and potassium.
With the supervision and monitoring of the Agriculture School of the Costa Rica Technology Institute, we have created a process that converts organic matter into fertilizer using the California Red worm. The cycle to process the output of
the farm takes six months and the resulting by-product has no equal: man is not able to synthetize any chemical fertilizer that will substitute this compound that we produce.
 The final step guaranteeing exceptional quality is the drying of the beans which is done under the sun, using the Parijuela
system. It is four times slower than other sun drying methods but produces incredible results.
The Parijuela is a bed that allows the coffee to lay under sun while keeping it in the air, at an average of 36 inches from the ground. This causes the wind to blow under the drying beans,creating a much more balanced drying process and
requiring less shifting per hour.
This step is so important to us that we have 4 employees working a total of 12 hours a day in this process exclusively. Each is assigned 15 beds and their only job is to shift them three times per hour, therefore guaranteeing an even drying
and the highest quality.
Click
here to buy the outstandng Dota Estate Natural Harvest
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