Costa Rica Volcan Azul San Isidro Copy

Farm: Finca Volcan Azul
Producer: Alejo Castro
Variety:  San Isidro
Process: Natural
Altitude: 1500- 1700 metres above sea level
Region: Poás Volcano, West Valley

This complex, juicy natural coffee from Costa Rica is the result of our first direct relationship with Volcan Azul and its owner Alejo Castro. With three farms and a mill, and several Cup of Excellence victories to his name, Alejo is at the forefront of coffee experimentation while also building on generations of coffee knowledge.

The Volcan Azul microlot is composed of the San Isidro variety, which is a specific line of the Sarchimor group of varieties, named for the town close to Volcan Azul. Sarchimor itself is a hybrid of the Villa Sarchi and Timor varieties, developed to be more resistant to coffee leaf rust.

The coffee is grown between 1500 and 1700 metres above sea level. A natural processed coffee, it is dried using a combination of sun drying and mechanical machines known in Central America as Guardiolas.

Aside from producing high quality coffee, Volcan Azul’s other focus is on conservation. In the 1980s Alejo’s father began purchasing land in Costa Rica’s famous Osa Peninsula in order to protect it, and today they look after over 1500 hectares. The Osa Peninsula has been called “the most biologically intense place on earth” by National Geographic, and is home to myriad animals like jaguars, wild pigs, monkeys, and over 400 species of bird.

This is in addition to the work they do on their farms, which ranges from rejecting herbicides in favour of bees—from which they also gather coffee blossom honey—to complementary planting to discourage insects.

You can learn more about Volcan Azul by clicking here to read our interview with Alejo.