History & Origins
The McAlpin family has owned Hacienda La Minita since 1967, when it was part of a larger farm system.
In 1978, a decision was reached to divest the milling operation and coffee producing property, and Bill McAlpin decided to retain, through purchase, the finest coffee producing lands (about 40% of the original land).
La Minita means “the small mine,” and traditionally, local legend has it that pre-Colombian Indians came to look for gold on the land that is now the farm.
In the 1980s, roasters in the United States were still in the very early stages of marketing coffee from single farms, and Hacienda La Minita was a pioneer of this Estate Coffee concept. Sales and marketing of La Minita Estate by prominent U.S. roasters was instrumental in raising the bar for green coffee quality and cup distinction across the industry.
A McAlpin profile in Cigar Aficionado from 1995 notes that part of the original conception for La Minita came out of the hypothetical question, “If cost were no obstacle, how would you cultivate the best possible coffee beans?”
In 2014, the entire operation was purchased by Japanese beverage conglomerate Ito En.
Terroir & Growing Conditions
Hacienda La Minita is located in the picturesque landscape of the Los Santos region in central Costa Rica.
The estate is a 700-acre plantation in the Tarrazú region, south of San Jose.
Although there is a section of the farm that approaches 1,800m in altitude, the central block lies between 1,100m and 1,500m.
Over millions of years, volcanic eruptions in the region deposited nutrient-dense mineral layers that now form the farm’s Naranjo loam soil, layered with sand and clay that provide optimal drainage and water retention.
The La Minita estate spans some 1,200 acres of the richest, most biologically diverse, farm land in the Tarrazu river valley of Costa Rica.
Spread across 800 acres, over a million coffee trees grow in a cultivated, shaded environment that provides the optimum conditions to consistently produce quality coffee.
250 acres are reserved as virgin rainforest and will never be cultivated.
The estate’s sheltered location and high altitude create spring-like temperatures year-round along with mild sunlight and consistent humidity.
Processing & Production
Beneficio del Rio Tarrazu, the estate’s mill, is located on land adjacent to Hacienda La Minita, just across the Tarrazu River, and is believed to be the most technologically advanced and ecologically sound coffee processing facility in the world.
The separation process is clean because it uses spring water, and the mill is a world standard for sustainable coffee processing — using hydroelectric power generated on-site and a first-of-its-kind biomass furnace which recycles the by-product of the coffee fruit as a fuel for drying the coffee.
In 1997, Beneficio del Río Tarrazú was awarded the Bandera Blanca by the government of Costa Rica in recognition for its contribution to ecologically sustainable coffee processing.
The coffee spends between 20 and 24 hours in fermentation tanks, where the fermentation process breaks down the sugars in the miel, making it easier to remove the mucilage from the seeds.
The last step for La Minita coffee is the hand cleaning tables, where women pore over the coffee looking for discolored or damaged beans that were not separated by the machines — a top sorter can clean no more than 50 pounds of beans in one day.
Of 100 pounds of green equivalent cherries that enter the milling process, only about 23 pounds make it to become La Minita.
Cup Profile & Tasting Notes
Hacienda La Minita produces a harmonious, inviting Costa Rica cup, chocolaty and rich, with sweet fruit and floral notes.
The coffee is Rainforest Alliance Certified, medium bodied, and soft with a black cherry characteristic flavor.
The cup offers a bright character, medium body, with sweet notes of orange citrus, vanilla, and chocolate, finishing silky smooth and long-lasting on the palate.
Cupping notes include brilliant acidity, a medium body, and sweet flavors of orange citrus, caramelized sugar, and fine chocolate.
In the cup, notes of key lime, dark cherry, and maple syrup meet a heavy, syrupy body—bright yet grounded, elegant yet full.
While embodying characteristic flavor traits of Tarrazú coffees like crisp acidity, rich body, and citrusy overtones, La Minita beans showcase an amplified yet nuanced range balanced by dark cocoa sweetness. The estate’s meticulous attention to every detail of production creates a coffee that exemplifies the potential of Costa Rican terroir when married with uncompromising quality control.