The co-operative Coopcedral, or Cedral, is located in the mountainous canton of Pérez Zeledón, Costa Rica. Cedral produces the parchment coffee ‘Los Jilgueros’ - Spanish for ‘Goldfinch’ - a local bird with a beautiful song which is sadly prone to hunting. One of the aims of the Cedral co-operative is to be able to sell Los Jilgueros to the local market and dedicate proceeds towards protection of the bird.
Coopcedral was formed back in 2014 when 29 members unified to form ASPROCE - a group of 12 smallholder farms who farm on 5 hectares or less, but together, formed 25 hectares of land. Froilan Diaz Santano, president of Coopcedral, explained to us on our 2018 origin trip that the co-operative not only includes coffee producers but local people who work in tourism, showcasing the coffee of the area.
The processing at Cedral is slightly different from the other co-operatives. Coffee is mechanically washed, and than fermented in a fermentation tank before manually moved to one of the 12 drying beds. The farmers of Los Jilgueros aims are to continue to produce high-quality coffee, create long standing relationships with their buyers and create a market for their coffee locally.
February 20, 2019
