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In the shade of an oak tree, two butterflies and a hummingbird soar above the branches of the coffee bushes, which still display some red berries that are behind harvest time. A cool breeze stirs the branches of the trees and accompanies the sounds of the icy current of the Savegre River, the chirping of birds and the snoring of a solar-powered water-recycling machine. In addition, grain batches are dried with natural heat and give off a strong smell of syrup. The micro mill, a small processing plant, is barely noticeable amidst the green of the mountainous landscape next to the vast cloud forest in the Cordillera de Talamanca, between the Central Valley of Costa Rica and the southern zone of the famous Central American country, naturally like the quality of its coffee. And that’s still a dilemma.
“We don’t want this to be a coffee plantation; The dream is that this will become a forest with coffee,” warns Jonathan Cerdas, one of the partners in the microfinishing and organic plantation, which operates in an old traditional farm. They are the engines of a project that mixes rural tourism, volunteerism and community building to progressively influence the reduction of the environmental impact of the most coffee producing area of Costa Rica with 40% of the national total. The region is called ‘Los Santos’, it produces high altitude crops and the photo of its mountains also shows brown spots as evidence of traditional cultivation at the expense of the forest. The small town is called Providencia, in the municipality of Dota, with about 250 inhabitants, next to the farms most awarded for the quality of their coffee, where nobody thought that the unworldly project of Jonathan and his partner Carlos Jiménez could win the international tastings so soon , how it happened.
Jonathan Cerdas between coffee bushes at Finca La Bio Fábrica. Carlos Herrera
His Green Communities brand, with its organic coffee label, won four World Coffee Challenge 2022 categories for quality in the cup in September, but that’s not the most important thing, he warns. The most important thing for them is to show that organic and forest-friendly production can deliver production that harms nature or kills the soil with agrochemicals, even with the high sustainability averages that Costa Rica offers compared to other producing countries. The country of environmental fame is listed as the largest consumer of pesticides per hectare in the world, and its renowned coffee is part of that.
“The environmental problem exists and is serious, although there are other countries where forest destruction is worse. So we want to show producers that they can change their methods and still get quality coffee, with the benefit of having a bigger market because there are consumers who appreciate it. We want to gain influence to stop environmental damage, not to become a Starbucks,” explains Cerdas, before discussing coffee processing. He speaks of a love of work, refers to plants as people (“she eats well,” he says of plants), and talks in affectionate diminutives about the fungi that grow in some of the seven tanks used to store organic matter. The mix is made and applied with the help of two staff members and dozens of foreign students who come along with families from the city to share knowledge.
With their own farm, there are 17 organic grain producers who bring their bags to this micro mill and 70 families who receive direct income. “Since we won the award, some have switched their production to 100% organic,” adds Carlos proudly, conscious of the conservative weight in the coffee world and thus in a region whose economy and state of mind depend on the harvests. Eventually, coffee also becomes a topic and both partners argue about the value of talking about environmental protection.
Carlos Jiménez works in the microbeneficio.Carlos Herrera
“I do not go”
Carlos and Jonathan are 40 years old and are the grandchildren of lifelong coffee farming families, like so many in the Los Santos area. The first had migrated to the United States to earn some money and invested it again. They speak English, they know about tasting and barista, they investigate, take risks and mix goals like reaching 30,000 plants in 2025 and turning their farm into a small forest corridor. Far from being hippies, they define themselves as businessmen. They met at university studying tourism and a course project was the seed for it all. First they thought about rural tourism, then they started working with volunteers and organic farming. From there they embraced the idea of a university to develop microbenefits and are now doing all of the above, backed by the coffee brand and success in their first international competition, but without losing the original focus: to demonstrate that it can be produced without passing the bill to the environment.
Also working with them is Diego Sáenz, who was about to leave Providencia and move to the city to support his family, and now he even has his land on which to produce using the methods learned here. “I’m not leaving anymore,” he says, without stopping to manipulate the shredding machine imported from Colombia. Others in or around town view them with skepticism. The Costa Rican Coffee Institute (ICAFE) is also suspicious of agrochemical-free production due to the threat of pests such as rust, but recognizes that there is a market for it and accepts that there may also be high-quality fruit. The initiatives often come with a millennial energy that could help restore enthusiasm for farming in new generations, an activity that young people have fled from in recent decades.
Coffee plantation at Finca La Bio Fábrica.Carlos Herrera
A worker at the Carlos Herrera mill
Coffee drying beds in a greenhouse. Carlos Herrera
Jonathan Cerdas in the cafeteria of the Carlos Herrera project
“We have great advantages as a country because of the climate, the terrain, the environmental component and the benefit-sharing model, but there are young people and small producers refining these advantages who are in love with their work. It captivates certain markets and stimulates others,” admits Xinia Chaves, who was President of ICAFE until December. He concedes that less than 5% of production is dedicated to specialty coffees or special processes, but the trend is growing and there are buyers willing to pay prices in excess of $700 per quintal (the average international reference price in 2023 $166 per quintal).
This emboldens more innovators of an iconic coffee industry in Costa Rica, which in 2020 celebrated 200 years since its first export and established its National Theater with a special tax on coffee in the late 19th century. It is not a volume power (it contributed 0.88% of world grain in 2022, ranked 13th), but over time it has gained a reputation for its high quality, alongside other factors such as relative sustainability and the laws that guarantee, that 82% of the foreign exchange from exports stays with the producers. Coffee accounts for just 0.14% of the national GDP, or 4.64% of agricultural production, but its social impact is high, with 26,700 families working on its coffee plantations. In addition, most collectors have health insurance for this activity and programs exist to eliminate child labor. On environmental sustainability, the industry denies having contributed to deforestation in recent decades and is therefore celebrating an opportunity to boost exports to the European Union after the European Parliament banned imports of climate-related products in December banned logging.
However, Jonathan and Carlos see in their region that coffee production continues to cause environmental ills, particularly through the abundance of agrochemicals polluting soils and rivers, but also occasionally through deforestation. “Sometimes you see a forest fire and then there’s a coffee plantation. What a coincidence!” says Jonathan, before accepting that not every Dota coffee farmer smiles at him, even though the September award has improved the press. Gradually, the notion is accepted that there is some magic in a crop produced in the vicinity of other species, in a healthy soil nourished by other fruits and nourished by the feces of wild animals. They sell the idea that coffee can be processed as part of the ecosystem rather than as a competitor, with the incentive that quality can be measured and that there are consumers willing to pay for it.
Panoramic view of one of the huts of the Carlos Herrera farm
Sitting at the table in their new cafeteria, built next to the project’s bungalows, Carlos and Jonathan serve the coffee and explain the drink’s characteristics and flavor nuances with tasting details. And they come back with the theme of the richness of the natural soil and with the value of the special process with minimal impact on the environment, but wanting to clarify that their main product is not coffee, but proclaiming that with evidence a gentle production with nature can do the same be competitive and profitable like the traditional one, emphasizes Jonathan: “Otherwise it all makes very little sense.”