Alejo Castro is the fifth generation descendant of renowned coffee pioneers Alejo C. Jimenez and Wilhelm Kahle. Alejo's ancestors planted some of the first specialty coffee plantations in the early 1900s with the aim to produce the best coffee in the world. With over 200 years of family tradition in trading specialty coffee, Alejo's mission for the farm has been exclusively focused on improving coffee quality while making a positive impact on the environment. The highly fertile volcanic soil combined with the
mill's impeccable processing methods have produced a history of award-winning
coffees in Costa Rica.
Alejo writes:
VARIETY
"It is our most traditional variety and is our best seller around the world. We
have planted it for over 50 years and used to be over 90% of our production. It
is a mutation of Bourbon and it has a very steady homogenous quality. Is one
of those coffees you could drink every day. We will continue planting Caturra
and trying to improve its lineage at Volcan Azul by selecting the best seeds."
PROCESS
" This is a new process, basically its a natural process with 2 fermentations,
the first one is when the cherries arrive from the field we put them in an open
tank for 2 days, the we start pre-drying the coffee until it drops down to 25-
30% and then we bring the cherries back to an open tank for a second
fermentation to happen, the smell coming out of this second fermentation is
amazing, like cacao fermentation and prune."