Our friend, Luz Marina Trujillo, grew up in a family of coffee producers and talks happily about spending her childhood playing with coffee beans instead of dolls. Now, she produces one of the finest coffees available on her estate, Santa Elena, in the highlands of Costa Rica’s most famous coffee-growing region, Tarrazú. Luz Marina’s coffee is grown under shade, and the perfectly ripe cherries are hand-picked and sorted for quality at her mill. The cherries are then carefully de-pulped, washed, and dried slowly on the patios at Finca Santa Elena to fully develop acidity and depth of flavor. Additional care is given to her coffee in the “reposo” stage, resting in parchment for at least 30 days after drying before being milled and shipped to Thruline Coffee Co.
Like many of our favorite growers, Luz Marina takes a holistic approach to sustainability by minimizing synthetic inputs and utilizing a closed-loop fertilizing system that composts discarded coffee pulp using red-wiggler worms. Her water treatment system meets the Costa Rican government’s high environmental standards and preserves the river’s cleanliness that flows through the estate. She offers her seasonal employees outstanding housing, health care, and a state-of-the-art drinking water filtration system. We are happy to have her, and her coffee, back on our offering list.
