Costa Rican Zamorana Coffee Beans

About the Zamoras family farms

The Zamoras family are 4th generation coffee growers with nearly 100 years of experience in the industry. It was in 1947 that Don Clodoveo Zamora Morales and his brothers formed a company producing coffee and sugar cane for the local market. Fast forward to 1971, and Don Jorge Zamora realised that if he was to support his family, risks needed to be taken to make their venture more commercial in order to access more markets. With foresight, vision and hard work, Cafetalera Zamorana S.A was established in 1995, surviving regular market volatility and uncertainty which has seen many other farms fail.

Now they have 11 farms socially and environmentally responsible farms. All but one of the farms is in the Central Valley on the slopes of the Poás Volca-no. Finca Naranjo is located in the area of Naranjo, in the Occidental Valley growing region. The predominant varietals of all of the farms are Caturra and Catuai. Cafetalera Zamorana is very much a family venture and a testament to the hard work of all involved, with Don Jorge at the helm and his 6 children taking different roles. Diego and Alberto have responsibility for farms and the coffee. Diego manages the mills and the sales while Alberto manages the agricultural side.

In 1999 the family took the plunge and made the investment to build wet and dry mills in order to have control of the production chain all the way to export. Indeed 2001 saw the first direct export of Zamorana coffees to the UK. This has allowed them the flexibility to offer many processing options and the control to maintain the high quality of the beans. With the construction of the wet and dry mills has come a further responsibility to ensure that any by-products do not harm the environment. Indeed, Costa Rica has some of the toughest environmental laws when it comes to the processing of coffee. This is a responsibility that the Zamora’s are proud to take on and uphold.

To this end, washed coffees are now routinely mechanically washed. According to “Café de Costa Rica” this has reduced the average amount of water used from 4 cubic meters per fanaga (46kg) to less than 0.5 cubic meters. The water must also be treated prior to reintroduction into water sources. This is done with a series of filtration ponds. Beyond this, the Zamoras ensure that all usable by-products are put to good use on the farm, be this composting the pulp for fertiliser or using the wood from pruning to heat the guardiolas. They have even used some of this wood to make the handles of their brilliant self-constructed sample roaster. The farms are very well run and maintained, There is also a regular pruning regime where a degree of pruning is carried out every two years on alternate lines of trees. Don Jorge is showing no signs of easing his involvement in the farms and alongside Diego and Alberto, they are continuing with plans to advance the farms, both agriculturally, with new varietals, and socially, by aiming to continually improve the conditions for workers.

They are also in the process of working towards Rainforest Alliance certification. This blend is made up of coffee from the best quality lots from the 10 farms owned by the Zamora family in the province of Alajuela. All of the farms are located in the Central Valley on the slopes of the Poás Volcano and as such benefit from its incredibly fertile soil. The cherries are hand picked and delivered to the wet mill on Finca San Isidro where they are mechanically washed and dried ready for export.