COSTA RICA ORGANIC PEREZ ZELEDON COOPEASSA - *50946W* - 27763 - GrainPro Bags - SPOT COSEATAC

Here is something special from the southern half of Costa Rica where a group of 280 producers, each with just a few acres of land, have pulled their resources to form a cooperative called Cooperativa Agroindustrial y de Servicios Múltiples de San Antonio, Pérez Zeledón R.L. (COOPEASSA R.L.). They cultivate an incredibly diverse range of organic produce including; bananas, pineapples, oranges, ginger, turmeric, rambutan and coffee. The coffee production comes from 75 producer-members who focus their attention on organic farm management throughout the year and then deliver their harvested cherries to the COOPEASSA mill where traceability and quality control are second to none. The wet-mill is designed to receive cherries from many small farms and consistently process this well balanced regional blend. Cherries are placed in a tank with water to remove the less denses and damaged beans that float. Next the cherries are depulped and pass through a demucilager that mechanically strips the mucilage from the beans. All of this is done with a recycling water system. The washed coffee is mechanically dried using coffee parchment to fuel the furnace. When the coffee reaches 11 percent moisture it’s stored until it is time to prepare for export. In addition to an impressive diversity of crop cultivation, COOPEASSA also has an equally intricate model of income diversification with a profitable agriculture supply store, supermarket and roasted coffee sold throughout the country. The cooperative also runs a medical clinic and pharmacy.