In the small town of Santa Sofía de Dota, in the agricultural coffee heartland of Tarrazú, lies the processing station and production facilities of the Coope Dota cooperative. Founded back in 1960, the company started with 96 farmers and today works with an impressive 1,050 producers. Before taking on his role, Cristian Chinchilla, the new CEO, spent an entire year (2023–2024) visiting and listening to every member of the cooperative to fully understand the bigger picture and identify opportunities for growth.

Coope Dota stands out as a responsible producer — it was the world’s first cooperative to earn carbon-neutral production certification. And starting in 2024, it has been developing improved fertilizer made from the wastewater left after honey processing, as well as working on air-purification initiatives. Their ambition goes beyond carbon neutrality — their goal is to actively clean and restore the environment.

More than a thousand small farmers in the Dota canton grow and harvest coffee cherries and bring them directly to the cooperative’s processing stations. There, the maturity level of the cherries is measured using the Brix scale, after which they’re sorted into special tanks and fermented for 24 hours before being depulped. After depulping, about two-thirds of the mucilage remains on the beans, which are then dried on patios (concrete beds).

This careful and responsible approach results in a beautifully clean and stable cup — the kind of coffee that greets you each morning with its comforting aroma and clarity of flavor.