CoopeDota Coffee Tour

Our first coffee experience began at CoopeDota Plantation Grounds in Santa Maria de Dota. Founded on October 14, 1960 by 96 producers, CoopeDota cooperative is located on the North side of the Plaza de Deportes, Santa María de Dota and centered in the Tarrazu coffee region.

The Tarrazú region is divided into 3 coffee counties: Dota, San Marcos de Tarrazú and León Cortes. Agriculture in Santa Maria is 100% dedicated to producing only coffee.

Coffee Production

Coffee bean production in CoopeDota goes through many steps.

• Coffee cherries are picked from the coffee plants by local farm families. They are then transported to the CoopeDota facility.

• Once the cherries arrive at CoopeDota, they are weighed and sorted between first and second quality.

•  The coffee cherries are washed and stripped of the skin and pulp.

• The coffee beans are then dried. CoopeDota has three techniques to dry coffee:
• Sun Drying
• Rotary Drying
• Oven Drying

• After the coffee bean is dry, they sit in either wood  or metal silos to de-stress. From here they are stripped of the parchment coat.

• The next step for the bean is either roasted and packaged or placed in a burlap sack for export.

     Sustainability 

• Waste water from the fermentation process is reused and turned into ethanol.  The ethanol is used to power vehicles in Costa Rica.  

•  Coffee bean honey, pulp, and skin are used as fertilizers in the plantation and also given to local farms.

• The parchment skin from the bean is used in the ovens as a fuel and has replaced the use of fire wood.    

Cherry pulp and skin.

Parchment "skin"

Community

CoopeDota uses multiple sustainable practices. They pride themselves in using all products from the coffee plant, cherry, and production process.

• CoopeDota employs only local residents of the Los Santos. Area. They use their website to post and promote events and news in the Los Santos area.

• CoopeDota offers a Barista training program and sells farmers all the tools they need to have success in growing and picking coffee cherries.

• CoopeDota  works with local tour agencies such as SantosTours. They both reinforce and contribute to the growth of social, economic, and cultural activities in the community.

     

~T.E.A