Buena Beans La Violeta Unroasted Coffee Beans
Café La Violeta, comes from the Beneficio El Cedro mill in La Violeta, which is located in the central valley 36 kilometers south of San Jose, Costa Rica’s capital. It lies in the prime coffee region of San Marcos - Tarrazu, famed for producing some of the best coffee in the world. The harvest season in La Violeta runs from late November until mid-February.
Quality
Café La Violeta is characterized as an extremely well balanced and clean cup. It is known for its berry and citrus overtones and a hint of chocolate. This coffee is medium-bodied with a bright acidity characteristic of the altitude and region. It has high uniformity, brightness, flavor, and a great nutty finish. Café La Violeta is hand-picked and sun-dried which account for much of the superior flavor. Hand picking ensures that only the ripest beans are removed from the bush and the others are left to reach maturity. The traditional sun-drying process is slower and more gentle than conventional machine drying and is the primary process used at Beneficio El Cedro.
Roast
The recommended roast for Café La Violeta is just light of medium, the ideal roast to bring out its finest attributes. This cup is mild in flavor, medium in acidity (a term similar to the dry/tannin quality in wine), and results in a cup that is medium-bodied with an aftertaste that is crisp and slightly nutty. This is a well-balanced coffee that should please all coffee drinkers with its well-rounded flavor.
Sustainable Practices
Café La Violeta and Beneficio El Cedro have a rating of 90 in Starbucks social responsibility certification, C.A.F.E. Practices. This means that they meet the best practices standards with regards to product quality, economic accountability (transparency), social responsibility, and environmental leadership in both growing and processing. If you are interested in finding out more about this rating, please visit Scientific Certification System's website.
Members of the association of Beneficio El Cedro use only organic non-nitrogen based fertilizers that are individually assembled in response to soil conditions to provide only the specific nutrients lacking in the soil naturally. No pesticides, herbicides, or insecticides are used on their fields and the application of fertilizers is stopped three months before the harvest. Fields are interspersed with natural shade-giving trees and have areas of conservation where any removal of vegetation are prohibited. The fields are carefully planted and tended to minimize soil erosion. The coffee berries are depulped in a dry process, which significantly decreases El Cedro’s water usage compared to the majority of coffee mills. Waste water from washing the coffee berries goes through a three stage organic treatment to remove any solids and separate out the pure water, which is used as a powerful organic fertilizer for pastures and shrubs. Eighty percent of the coffee is dried in the sun, which minimizes the use of electricity and creates a better specialty cup of coffee. The skins of the coffee berries are composted with calcium and microorganisms to speed up decomposition and are then applied to the coffee fields as fertilizer.
Independent Production Beneficio El Cedro is run by an association of thirteen families from the community. Before founding their own mill, the members of La Violeta were forced to sell their coffee through middlemen to two large cooperatives that did not pay a fair price. Due to poor management, both of the cooperatives failed in the 1990s. Private companies emerged to fill this gap, but so many intermediaries were involved in the process, that hardly a livable wage trickled down to the producers. Following the crisis in the coffee sector from 1998-2001, the thirteen families came together to found a small independent mill and eliminate middlemen by selling much more directly to buyers. As a small, independent producer, El Cedro produces around 70,000 kilograms (150,000 lbs) of coffee per year, about one one-hundredth of the quantity produced by the large cooperatives in the region.
The Inspiration for Buena Beans
In January of 2008, Kate Schneider landed in La Violeta, Costa Rica to teach English for a year in the town’s primary school. An instant celebrity after most of the town watched (unbeknownst to her) as she attempted to walk the 2 kilometers into the town from the main road with her sixty-pound backpack, Kate was addressed simply as “Teacher” and her real name is still unknown to many to this day.
After finally reaching her house that day, Kate was offered her first (of many) cups of freshly brewed, and badly needed, Café La Violeta and was an instant addict. So when her students offered to take her up into the fields after the third day of school, she of course accepted the invitation. Far behind shouts of “come on, Teacher, it’s easy!” Kate got her first glimpse of the spectacular care that it takes to produce world-class coffee.
The history of coffee in La Violeta is a story of a slow emergence out of dire poverty over the last two generations. Older members of the community tell of the small plots of land families tended and the many times when there was not enough to eat. One common story from the older members of the town is of a single bananas, hard-boiled egg, or avocado shared between many people when there was nothing else to eat. A turning point for the community took place when the prominent Figueres family who owned most of the San Marcos - Tarrazu region sold off much of their land. The members of La Violeta were able to purchase their own land for the first time and over the next two generations, the community emerged slowly from extreme poverty into the relative prosperity they now enjoy. Thankfully, none of Kate’s students from 2008 know what it feels like to go hungry.
The generation of children currently growing up in La Violeta will work in the production of coffee in much smaller percentages than their parents and ancestors. Unfortunately, the quality of education that they receive at a rural public school is not sufficiently preparing these kids for success in other occupations. Without textbooks, basic supplies, or adequate curriculum materials the students have no chance of keeping up with their peers in urban areas. The educational system needs more resources in order to provide opportunities beyond small-scale farming for the next generation of children.
In June of 2008, the school received an amazing donation of ten computers from the University of Costa Rica. Without adequate space to set them up, this incredible resource stands idle. A safe space for the computers will enable access to a full range of technologies, including internet, for the entire community. The barrier to access these resources is so frustratingly small, yet unattainable. The building of new classroom space has stalled for lack of funds leaving the children to attend school inside an open construction zone.
Kate refused to accept that something as small as a few thousand dollars to pay for building materials could prevent students from learning to use computers and having access to the Internet and a twenty-first century education. She imagined using the town’s most valuable resource – its amazing coffee – to fundraise the money to finish constructing the school. Buena Beans grew out of this initial idea as a way to support local public schools that are successfully rising out of poverty through sustainable coffee cultivation but whose access to educational opportunities is barred by their rural location.
Every town in Costa Rica has its own public elementary school. Our vision is to provide coffees from small independent growers and millers, like those in La Violeta, and to fund projects to benefit their local schools. Our first product available is Café La Violeta, but we look forward to offering other single-origin coffees from independent millers elsewhere in Costa Rica soon.
Buena Beans is committed to the sustainable development of Costa Rica and to environmental sustainability and conducts business in a manner that supports both of these goals.
Good Deeds
Buena Beans believe that education is a critical component of sustainable development. For that reason, fifty percent of the profits from each of thier product is donated back to the producer communities exclusively for educational initiatives. Thier independent, internationally-based advisory board is responsible for the oversight of these donations.
While living in La Violeta, Kate raised $600 through an email campaign to help with the construction of necessary new classrooms. Her donation allowed the school board to pay off the debt they owed on all of the cement they had purchased and used for the first phase of construction. Upon her return to the U.S., she created Buena Beans to make a significant and sustainable contribution to education and to open up endless possibilities for her students’ futures.
Meet Buena Beans Advisory Board
Buena Beans’ advisory board is made up of independent members whose expertise covers international business, teaching, public accounting, international education policy and the public educational system of Costa Rica. Together they are committed to ensuring that every penny donated by Buena Beans is spent to improve the schools and educational opportunities available to the communities that provide Buena Beans with such exceptional coffees.
Jill Carlson
B.A. Claremont McKenna College
M.Ed. Candidate (International Education Policy), Harvard University Graduate School of Education
Dirchy Calvo Valverde
Elementary Public School Teacher
San Gerardo, Costa Rica
Dirchy Calvo Valverde has been a teacher in several different rural communities in Costa Rica’s central valley area south of the capital of San Jose since 2001. She has taught elementary grades as well as high school Spanish. In 2006 she received her Bachelor’s degree in first and second cycle education (grades 1 through 6) and is currently pursuing a license as a tourist guide, which she will complete in September 2009. Dirchy lives in the small town of San Gerardo outside of Santa Maria de Dota with her husband, Luis, and their two children Antony and Amanda.
Mario Duran
Founder, San Benedicto School, San Jose, Costa Rica
Ph.D. Candidate (Political Science), University of Costa Rica
Natalia Mendoza
B.B.A. Loyola Maryland, Management and International Business
Natalia Mendoza was born in Guatemala City, Guatemala. She has lived in Guatemala, Costa Rica, Brazil, Italy, France, Switzerland and the United States. Natalia holds a BBA in International Business with a minor in French from Loyola College in Maryland. Natalia has spent several years working in marketing, most recently for the Visiting International Faculty program, which hires international teachers for grades k-12 to work in the United States. Natalia currently resides in North Carolina with her fiancé Gabriel.Price: $7.95
Buy Buena Beans La Violeta Unroasted Coffee Beans