Costa Rica Cafeteros de Dota

Dota is a small subregion adjacent to the Tarrazu valley proper, more remote than the areas where most of the coffee in Costa Rica is planted. Great Dota coffees are fairly small sized seeds, with compact density due to the high altitudes they are cultivated at. Some roasters used to believe that the unique Dota cup character was the result of extra fermentation times at the mill during the wet-processing of the coffee. But in fact it is processed the same way that other Tarrazu coffees are, mechanically washed with demucilagers. If there is difference, it may have more to do with the unique soils that are found in the Dota micro-region of Tarrazu, and the tradition of harvesting the coffee cherry very ripe. This Dota micro mill buys and process coffee from small-holders in the surrounding hillside communities, altitude ranging from as low as 1200 meters to as high as 1900 meters above sea level. The coffee is depulped using a mechanical demucilager, which is typical in Costa Rica. While this process uses very little water and forgoes tank fermentation, they do soak the coffee after removing the skin and most of the fruit which helps to clean up the green coffee seed before sending to the drying patios.