How Fourth Generation Grower Catalina Castillo Connects Small Costa Rican Family Farms Directly With Coffee Drinkers Across the UAE
Manural is a new brand of specialty coffee created by Catalina Castillo, a fourth generation coffee grower from Tarrazú, Costa Rica. She brings the coffee from her family’s farm and those of neighboring farms in the region to Dubai where she roasts them in small batches.
For me personally, Costa Rica is a country that can easily stay in your memory long after you have left it. I am in love with the country, the weather, the people, the food and last but not least the coffee. To drink coffee in Costa Rica is to have a grounding and instantaneous experience of being in nature, of being in the countryside.
Finding that same sensation of being in the coffee fields, surrounded by nature, in the middle of a very busy and fast paced city such as Dubai, is something that Catalina has managed to achieve with Manural, her Specialty Coffee brand that links small family farms in Tarrazú, Costa Rica with coffee lovers in the UAE.
As a child Catalina Castillo grew up in the high altitude mountains of Tarrazú, Costa Rica’s most decorated coffee producing region and one of its eight different coffee producing areas. In the mountains of Tarrazú coffee is more than just a morning beverage, it is her family’s livelihood. The annual coffee harvest, which used to take place around Christmas time, was always the most exciting time of the year for Catalina and her siblings, bringing with it the promise of more income for the family’s household. This was especially important as coffee was the main source of cashflow for her family, and as such they relied on the annual harvest to sustain themselves for the rest of the year.
The reality of how coffee is produced can drive the children of 4th generation coffee growers to other careers, to seek more stable incomes in other parts of the world. Catalina’s peers in the farming community are often forced to take on other jobs to make ends meet while their parents continue to struggle with the income generated by the annual harvest, often dictated by the international coffee market and by the volume of coffee that can be produced by a farm, rather than the price that can be commanded by high quality coffee.
Although Catalina always loved nature and the process of growing coffee trees, she had decided to take a different path as a cabin crew member. Flying from city to city opened her eyes to the ways of the global market. There were countries that did not grow coffee but created huge projects around it, while producing countries were left behind. This is why Catalina decided to create Manural, a brand that connects the farmer with the person who is brewing coffee at home, allowing for a higher percentage of the value of the coffee to go back to the producer. Catalina dreams of returning to her family’s farm in order to continue the work of her family as well as that of other small family farms in her region.
Franklin, Catalina’s father, has been working on the family’s farm since he was a boy, but he had never tasted his own coffee before. Catalina’s dream had been to process her family’s coffee for many years, but as a farmer, coffee cherries are the only asset they have once a year. Her father delivers his cherries to the local cooperative and drinks standard supermarket coffee at home, not knowing who has grown the beans in his cup.
Four harvests ago Catalina invited her parents to Dubai where she presented them with the Manural brand that she had created. Her father processed a portion of the harvest that year and Catalina imported it to the UAE. Today they are celebrating the fourth harvest of Catalina’s father’s coffee. Her father was over the moon when he tasted the first cup of coffee roasted exclusively from his land. On the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) scale where anything under 80 is commercial grade and scores between 85 and 89.99 are rated as Excellent specialty coffee, Franklin’s very first batch processed by hand scored an impressive 86.50. All his hard work was rewarded and he now proudly tells Catalina that his coffee tastes like the best in the world.
Franklin has always planted new trees, used fewer pesticides, kept shelter for animals and birds and helped others to grow coffee as well.
“The goal is not the profit, it is the impact. My dad has always planted new trees, used fewer pesticides, kept shelter for animals and birds, and given advice on how to farm coffee to others. I learned that impact is more important than profit. Who are we, instead of what we do?”
-Catalina Castillo, Founder of Manural
As Manural grows, Catalina is slowly bringing in the neighboring smallholders of Tarrazú to be part of the brand. These are family farms, run by people who take the risk of processing their tiny harvests by hand to be able to sell them as quality coffee instead of in bulk to the cooperative. They are paid for the quality of their coffee rather than the volume.
In addition to celebrating the coffee and the farmers from her region, Catalina is also raising her voice for the farmers and highlighting the farms that are led by women. Ivannia Valverde of San Luis Farm is one of the many producers that Catalina works with in order to share their amazing work with the coffee lovers in the Middle East.
On the other hand, there is also the need to protect the environment. Catalina only works with producers who practice regenerative agriculture and grow coffee in shade of native trees, without using too many chemicals. The soil is nurtured by the producers and therefore remains fertile and doesn’t erode. This way, healthy plants are grown and we can taste the care that was put into them in the coffee. Although in Costa Rica more than 25% of the land is protected forest by law, the families that are part of the Manural network go above and beyond this.
Catalina’s father takes great care to preserve 20% of his land to protect water sources and wildlife. He even calls the police to report people who are cutting down protected trees. Humberto Jimenez protects 40% of his land as forest. Mayra Solis, Partner producer, keeps around 90% of her land for nature rather than clearing it to plant more coffee.
The coffee I’ve tried from Manural so far is beautifully balanced, whereas many of the experimental coffees on the specialty market today are heavily processed and can sometimes overpower the coffee itself. Catalina’s coffee and any additional flavor expressions, all work beautifully together to create a truly wonderful cup. Each of the lots of coffee she brings in from Tarrazú has its own unique aroma, brightness and character, derived from the coffee’s altitude, variety, producer and the surrounding forest.
While Costa Rica is known for its relaxed Pura Vida lifestyle, UAE is on the other hand, constantly moving, persevering and innovating. Catalina found a common ground in both cultures: their appreciation for authenticity and great coffee.
In order to serve the best coffee Catalina imports the green beans from Tarrazú and roasts them in small batches in Dubai in order to deliver the coffee as fresh as possible to her customers’ homes or to the coffee shops where she sells her coffee. The customers can ask her any questions regarding the coffee and the farmers and she can tell them the stories of the families behind the harvest of the coffee that they are drinking, bringing the simplicity and the nature of the Costa Rican coffee to their busy lives in the Dubai mornings.