After visiting the West Valley, I returned to the exclusive office for a day of cupping—about 50 or so coffees from West Valley and Tarrazú.

The next morning I headed to Tarrazú. First stop was the El Puente micromill to meet-up with Efrail Mendez. We visited El Puente last year, and it was great to see some improvements that they’ve made, specifically, the new African raised drying beds.

The next stop after El Puente was a visit to the La Lia micromill. This was my first visit to this mill, and I was very excited. We cupped some fantastic coffees from them last year, and had heard great things. Brother duo Oscar Adolfo and Luis Alberto Adolfo run their family mill, and Oscar was kind of enough to spend a few hours with me indulging my plethora of questions.

After a great visit with Oscar over coffee and cookies, I met Luis Alberto briefly at his house. Luis Alberto was in good spirits but a bit weak. He was recovering from four surgeries after he was diagnosed with appendicitis. Our best wishes to Luis Alberto for a speedy recovery.

Just as the sun was setting, Oscar drove me across the mountain to pay a visit to Los Angeles Micromill. Thankfully I’d visited them last year, as it was already dark when I arrived. Upon arrival Diego Calderon (the oldest son of Ricardo Calderon) was receiving cherry at the wet mill. It was 6:30 pm and pitch black. It felt like the middle of the night, but it’s not uncommon for them to receive cherry at that time, as the daily pickings are usually delivered all at once, at the end of the day.

It was excellent to return to the mill of our favorite Costa Rican coffee from last year, and we’re excited for their coffee this year!

We headed back to their house where they fed me a delicious chicken dinner, and I told them a bit about what’s been happening with us back in Calgary. After dinner I pulled up our webpage and showed Diego pictures of our café. He was intrigued to see where their coffee ended up on the other side of the world!

The next morning, Pablo from Don Mayo picked me up from my hotel and drove me to their nearby mill. Last year, was our first visit to Don Mayo, and it was great to see it again.

I was very impressed with the many improvements that Don Mayo had made since last year, improving their wet and dry mill, as well as their cupping facility. Don Mayo continues to raise the bar for quality micro-mills in Costa.

-Phil