1 - Santa Teresa - Costa Rica 2024 (Wet)

#1 SANTA TERESA
ROGER UREÑA HIDALGO
Growing coffee in the Zona de los Santos is something very common which has been transmitted from family to family for years, since it is a good source of income for personal and family progress.
I was born on November 19, 1963 (Roger Ureña Hidalgo), by then my father already grew coffee something that my grandparents also did. Since I was little boy, I had to work helping my father in his dairy and coffee plantation, at the same time to complete my studies which I finished (secondary). At the age of 15, I started working in coffee using my own means, making coffee seedbeds, and that's where I started to grow my first coffee plantation.
In 1987 I went to the United States to work and make money with the idea of returning to Costa Rica to invest in some business, which I was inclined to grow coffee and from then on, I enlarged my coffee plantations. But it was until 8 years ago that I decided to process my own coffee making the micromill Santa Teresa 2000.
Santa Teresa’s farm is where the mill is located, I acquired it about 11 years ago, in the same we sowed varieties like: geisha, rume sudan, pacamara, Villalobos, Typica, San Roque (SL-28), caciopea, bourbon and already had catuaí plantations, the plantations go from 1900 meters above sea level to 2050 meters above sea level.
Also, we produce coffee in other farms that goes from 1600 masl to 2050 masl.
My oldest son Alex Ureña is the one who helps me in relation to the mill and farm.
The farm and the mill participate in the Blue Flag program (at the level of Costa Rica), and this is the fourth year that we started with the Neutral Carbon certification process, this to be hand in hand with the environment.
The coffee fruit is collected with the help of Panamanian families, who have been harvesting each year for several years; On the other hand, the labor required for coffee plantations is carried out with the help of Nicaraguans and Costa Ricans, therefore, several families benefit from the business.
This year we are very happy with the first place in the washed category, it has been 7 years that we have been participating in the Cup of excellence, in which we have always been in the Top 10, however, until this year we were given the opportunity to obtain first place, which fills us with joy and pride,  because it is a reward for the work that has been achieved during all these years since we started with the mill. Winning is a reward for effort, but it also requires us to maintain and improve the quality of our coffee.
We are anxious for customers to be able to taste this coffee that we work with a lot of love and delicacy.