finca alaska, los crestones micromill, piedre de las rivas, chirripo, costa rica

Los Crestones (the crest) micromill is located deep within Chirripó National Park, in the heart of the Talamanca Mountains. This range is noted for the extent and variety of geologic processes, including tectonic movement and volcanic activity. The last glaciers retreated from this area about 10,000 years ago, but evidence of their presence can be seen by the many lakes and u-shaped valleys. Striations can be observed on several of the rock beds in these valleys.

The human history of Chirripó is still in its infancy. The highlands were believed to be sacred by the indigenous people of the area, and for that reason they left many of the area´s peaks unexplored. It is widely believed that the first explorer to reach the summit of Cerro Chirripó Grande was in 1904 by Agustín Blessing a priest and missionary. Chirripó means “land of the eternal waters” and is the second highest peak in Central America.

Twenty family’s deliver their cherries to Los Crestones Micromill. This lot is selected from Finca Alaska which is owned by Asdrubal Acuña Hernández. The farm is located1650mASL and at this elevation the temperatures are cooler which slows the maturation of the cherries enhancing the soft but complex acidity and sweetness.The family produce 100% Caturra which are now 5 years old. Amongst their coffee plants, they grow tomatillos, avocados, incredibly sweet floral granadilla fruit that resemble the flavour profile of Geisha. They also produce sugar cane and potatoes for the local markets. The farm has 13 beef cattle, one dairy cow and more chickens than could be counted.

We visited Los Crestones in Nov 2010; late season rains continued to cause problems with the coffee. It was very early in the harvest and early pickings were just starting in this region. The rains exacerbate the Ojo de Gallo (Mycena citricolor fungus), causing leaf drop. It is easy to spot the exemplary managed farms like Finca Alaska that regularly apply anti-fungus and plenty of compost, because these plants remain healthy.
Some of the farms cultivate large beefsteak-type tomatoes during the first year of planting new coffee trees. These very heavy cropping tomatoes receive intense fertilizer application and the coffee trees benefit from these nutrients. The tomato crop enables the farmers to make an income during the early unproductive years of the young coffee trees life.

The penagos mill at Los Crestones is a 5000/hr capacity. Their beautifully prepared parchment coffee is dried very carefully on raised African beds. Each section of the raised beds was labelled with the specific farm name from where that coffee was picked to enable the mill to maintain provenance.