Hacienda La Minita - Part One: San Jose

August 23, 2025

San Jose's skyline view looking to the south, tall buildings with mountains behind them

5 men pose for the camera with a mountain range behind them

This spring, Alex Usherwood (middle) and I (far right) joined Kaldi’s Coffee head roaster, Dale Bassham (mid right), on a trip to Costa Rica to visit the famed coffee estate, Hacienda La Minita, which means “small mine.” After two days in San Jose, we met up with Dancing Goat's green-buyer Bob Benck (far left) and the Atlanta Roastery Manager, Brad Lawrence (mid left). Dancing Goats has been buying coffee from La Minita since 1992, and Bob's been visiting the farm for almost two decades - his knowledge and respect for the farm shone through as he helped us learn the history and current state of coffee growing in Costa Rica.

Men gather around a truck's trailer as one prepares to hoist a basket of coffee up to a man standing in the trailer. His face shows exertion and concentration

Recapping a trip like this is a daunting task, so I’m going to break our visit into three sections. I hope you'll enjoy them all, but here are links if you want to skip to the farm or the mill:

Part 2: On the Slopes of Tarrazu

Part 3: From Cherry to Cup, At the Processing Station (Coming in September!)

Bonus: See more pictures across multiple Instagram posts here.

We dropped toward the earth quickly, our right wing dipping to prepare the approach, and the mountains of Costa Rica came into view for the first time. Rising up around San Jose and the central valley, the mountains sat lush, volcanic, like a promise of our destination, reaching toward us as we gazed down at them.

A mountain range at sunset, a spectrum of reds and yellows in the sky

Before we would reach the mountains in Tarrazu though, I'd scheduled an extra day for us in San Jose. Tourists typically land and immediately leave the capitol for the beaches, volcanos, mountains, and retreats around the country, but we gave ourselves a full day to explore and enjoy the bustling city.

A narrow street scene showing traffic approaching the camera, with pedestrians also walking toward the camera

After settling into our downtown hotel, tucked on a busy side street near the city’s central market, we spent our first evening at an open air restaurant before walking the length of Central Avenue, which was a pedestrian-only road filled with shops, street vendors, and music.

A street scene showing a closed street filled with pedestrians walking in all directions

When you’re traveling with a coffee crew in a new city, it’s guaranteed that an early morning search for coffee is in the cards. After a traditional Costa Rican breakfast of rice, beans, eggs, and plantains at the Grand Hotel, we found a delightful cafe serving amazing coffee just a few blocks away. La Mancha felt open and breezy, welcoming, and served deliciously sweet coffee from Tarrazu, the region we’d be traveling to the next day. 5 stars: dreamy and delicious.

An airy interior of a cafe, with 2 men seated in the foreground smiling at each other

Coffee being poured from a Chemex into a white ceramic mug

Since we’d had about 6 cups of coffee each by this point, we were ready to head out and walk across the city.

A street scene looking at a T intersection, with a street streching away into the distance where mountains sit over the city, while the back of a bus leaves the right side of the frame

We’d agreed to visit the Costa Rican Art Museum which sits just across a large city park from the national stadium, home of Los Ticos, the Costa Rican National Football (soccer) Team. These things may seem unrelated, but are definitely two of my loves. The museum itself was San Jose’s original airport terminal and was a work of art in itself.

A vivid blue sky with a white art deco style building with red clay tiled roof

A modern stadium arcs against the skyline in the distance, a soccer field fills the middle distance, and a small goal is in the right foreground of the image

The 2 mile trek, followed by a bit of a wander through the park, left us ready for a little treat, so we stopped for ice cream at a sidewalk cafe. At this point, I’d let you know that none of us spoke Spanish well, but it wasn’t an issue during our time in San Jose. The people were understanding and spoke wonderful English, though I did resolve to learn some Spanish ahead of future trips to non-English speaking countries (update: I just completed Spanish I at SLCC this summer).

An open air cafe covered by a red and white awning

A yellow castle-like building in the background, with a huge metal and glass sphere in the right foreground

Next, we headed back across San Jose to visit the National Museum of Costa Rica, where we marveled at their butterfly house, archeological displays, and learned more about the history of the country. Originally a barracks, now a museum with a butterfly house, featuring a prominent shelter modeled after a Diquís (“great waters”) sphere. I wished we’d started here, as there was so much to read and enjoy, but the museum closed at 4:30 and we ran out of time!

A metal and glass sphere shown in black and white, with a heavily shadowed stone sphere inside of it

The shelter in front of the museum houses a Diquís sphere, many of which were displayed on the museum grounds and indoors as well. These spheres date back as far as 300 CE and are thought to have lined the paths to chieftains’ shelters on the southern coast in the Diquís culture.

Two men walk away from the camera on a path, large stone sphere placed off the path in the landscaping, as a modern skyscraper towers over them in the distance

A stone sphere, close-up, showing pre-colombian carvings in the stone in abstract patterns

It was fascinating, at both museums, to see and learn the history of colonialism and coffee in the countries development, art, and culture. Costa Rica first exported coffee in 1820, but over the next century, it accounted for 90% of all exports.

Two men examine the plaques above objects in a museum. One object is half of a stone sphere

A close up of a brown and white butterfly as it sits on a pineapple chunk

I know it’s common to fly into San Jose and immediately head to a coast, volcano, nature preserve, or mountain, but I’d absolutely recommend spending 2-3 nights in the city to get a different view of life in Costa Rica.

A night image of a fruit vendor, adjusting a hanging bag of fruit under dim lighting. A scooter sits to the right of his stall.

The lit face of the National Theater of Costa Rica, bathed in yellow light, with flags flying in the foreground

Another gorgeous sunset in the city, another walk through the bustling streets at night, before the morning was upon us again and it was time to taxi out to meet Bob and Brad at their hotel near the airport. From there, we left the city and headed into the mountains, stopping at a coffee co-op for a tasting and tour, then up, up into the hillsides of Los Santos and our first glimpse of the beauty that is Hacienda La Minita.