All photos by Matthew Bodary

The collaboration between Zingerman’s Coffee Company and Hacienda Miramonte in Costa Rica’s Naranjo region is one we hold dear. Hacienda Miramonte was started in 1917 by the matriarch of the Gurdian family, Lucila Duval de Morales, and has been in the family for nearly 100 years. They are committed to growing quality coffees and giving back to their employees and local community. Steve Mangigian, the managing partner of the Coffee Company, recently took a group to Hacienda Miramonte. Here’s what he had to say about the trip.

I think it’s important to visit the farms we work with—not taking the time to do this gives you a very lopsided view of how the coffee world works. Coffee is an enormous business, the second largest traded commodity in the world next to petroleum. Farm visits help make it more personal, allowing us to connect with the producer in ways we would not be able to otherwise. In short, farm visits humanize the coffee industry.

Steve, Matthew and Stephanie checking out where the pickers bring their daily cherries

Though I often travel to the farms by myself, on occasion I like to take others for several reasons. For one thing, I want to expose staff in order to help enlarge their world and give perspective to the work they do in the Coffee Company. It’s also a nice perk, and I don’t like to travel alone. As time goes on, I will want to phase out this aspect of the work I do, so priming others allows me to proactively plan for the future.

I love the coffee Hacienda Miramonte produces and their commitment to quality. I also love the relationship we’ve built. I enjoy working with like-minded people as it relates to quality and always wanting to make things better. Most farmers are aware that they would like to produce better coffee but have trouble executing. Hacienda Miramonte is minimally sized, so that allows them to do things for their workers that other farmers cannot, including providing housing, access to healthcare, humane living conditions, and more.

Green coffee beans after being processed through a small mill

Rows of Zingerman’s Reserve coffee green beans laying out to dry.

Costa Rica has long been known as a country that produces good coffee. Naranjo, the region that Hacienda Miramonte sits in, has produced excellent coffees for the last 3 to 4 years. They’re not really on anyone’s radar, either,  which I love because they quietly go about their business working on greatness and don’t shout it from the rooftops.  They just are!

We sell Hacienda Miramonte, Zingerman’s Reserve coffee in our shop and on Zingermans.com. It’s also served it in our shop, the airport, and at our wholesaler’s establishments. Guests can expect a medium roast with a smooth, clean finish and a candy-like sweetness with flavors of caramel and citrus. It’s superbly well balanced. A press pot brings out this coffee’s savoriness, and it also brews nicely as an espresso.

Here are more photos from the trip:

Don Ricardo, the owner of Hacienda Miramonte, also owns a dairy farm, Terranova.

Rodolfo, the farm’s manager, showing the crew the different ripeness of coffee cherries

A close-up of the cherries

Our very own Matthew picking ripe cherries at Hacienda Miramonte