by Sunghee Tark

— “This is really good. Really!” as I yelped, Joselyn started recounting how she got started with her project.

“Last harvest for the first time, I proposed to my parents that I wanted to process our family coffee into specialty coffee. My parents for their lives, have been processing their coffees for the conventional market.

As a result, we weren’t able to be recognized for the quality. We were paid for volume, and cupping wasn’t even useful. But I bought a small pulper to start a small experiment on my own. And this is the result! The size of each lot is really small to be around 2-4 bags, but I really want to do our micro-lots well. I want to contribute to changing the image of Brunca coffee. I want to process them to be specialty to export them, and roast it to also introduce them to Costa Rican consumers.”

Each of her words, and her sentences were densely packed with dreams and hope. Her words then created waves to move me. “Woah, I love your dream,” I shared, and Joselyn and Lisbeth giggled glancing at each other. “We love dreaming. We are dreamers with many dreams. This cafe, is also a result of the dreams.”

Soon after coffee, Joselyn led us to her farm and mill through the backdoor of the cafe. It was so closely hidden behind the cafe.

The coffee trees were green and neatly organized. To the left side of the countless coffee trees, banana and other fruit trees to provide shades was the entrance to the mill. “Let’s first walk on this side (on teh farm). These are all baby trees that we only planted last year. Initially, we only had caturra and catuai, and I convinced my parents to renovate the farm with new varieties. We have geshas, villa sarchi, as well as tupi amongst others. This is rather a small labotory of my own!”

Amidst small coffee trees were also baby fruit trees. Then we took a turn to enter the mill. “Not everything in here is important to me. This small part on the side, is the only part that I use. A tiny pulping machine. The bigger one here is my dad’s - what he uses to process conventional coffee. My goal is to make sure my coffee doesn’t get mixed with his!” laughed Joselyn.

Every corner that Joselyn led us to, had her family in it. Her dad and mom who have been life-long farmers, and herself dreaming even bigger after inheriting the family’s dream. As we walked past the drying beds where she herself manage every harvest season, Joselyn asked, “we are yet to see the place where I dream the most. You aren’t tired yet… right?”

Shaking our heads indicating a no, we followed her into a basement of the cafe. “This could as well be the ground floor” I exclaimed as we entered the room with her roasting machine in green. On one side of the wall was display of packages that exhibited her tireless effort, and on the other side was a sliding door that opened to the farm with the great view.

She shared that her dream is to continue improving her processing and roasting of the beans that her family harvests. With every roast, week, month and year, she dreams of improving her every step.

“I’m a newbie roaster and there are many more things that I don’t know than I know. Nonetheless, with each attempt, and each harvest, I’m learning. As I learn to understand how coffees can be improved by roasting and cupping, I will be able to also reflect such changes in my processing. I want to keep improving in this cycle of work.”

Every word that Joselyn uttered was dense with her dreams. I defintiely am drawn to those that dream, and dream big. Just like how her words led me to her family farm, her dream led me to their coffee.

This is also the day that I dreamt to introduce this dream-filled coffee to the world outside Costa Rica.

Written by Sunghee Tark
Co-founder of bean voyage

+ bean voyage collaborates with smallholder women coffee producers to build thriving futures with them. And Sunghee of bean voyage brings us along with her as she visits Joselyn in Costa Rica.

Photo Credit to La Chelita Farm