A HISTORY OF EXCELLENCE

We travel to Costa Rica with Kate Burnett; specifically to a region that has been in the spotlight in specialty circles for the last couple of years. Volcan Azul, one of the farms run by the Castro family, has made waves with some of the best coffee professionals in the world showcasing their coffees on the world stage. But success doesn't happen overnight, and the effort is definitely worth the wait.

- Kate Burnett

About a week before leaving for Costa Rica | watched the Netflix series, Full Swing. It is a docuseries about golfers and the PGA Tour. Jordan Spieth shot to the top of his game linearly: dominating as a junior and going on to succeed in his pro career, but this isn't the story of all the athletes in the series. Matt Fitzpatrick "bursts" onto the scene by winning the 2013 United States Amateur Championship, supposedly out of nowhere. This prompted a couple of conversations. We love the stories of overnight success: an underdog capturing the attention of the world by winning as a rookie. Yet, without fail, upon closer inspection these golfers weren't new to the game by any means, they didn't suddenly go from mediocre to world champion. It was just the spotlight that was new. It seems that most of the time, it doesn't really matter who you are, it's the groundwork that counts.

Volcan Azul is one of the three coffee farms owned by Alejo Castro and his family. In the last few years, Alejo has partnered with roasters at the forefront of high end specialty coffee, creating a huge demand for his coffee and his time. Since then, the spotlight has remained on the Costa Rican farmer. Volcan Azul has been represented at World Barista Championships many times, has been used to win many National Barista Championships and been at the pointy end of the Costa Rican Cup of Excellence consistently. Looking at it from the outside, it appears that something clicked for Volcan Azul in recent years.