Welcome to Orocafe!

OROCAFE VPZ, S.A. (“Orocafe”) is a Costa Rican corporation owned and operated by the Keller family of Alajuela (CR), Oakland (Ca), Boston (Ma), College Station (Tx), and New Orleans (La).

Located south of San Jose (the Capital of Costa Rica) and Cartago (the provincial Capital) in the lush green mountains overlooking the beautiful Orosi Valley, Orocafe owns a 30-acre Finca (coffee farm) at 4500 feet above sea level. This high mountain location provides an ideal climate for growing the premium quality strictly hard bean (“SHB”) Arabica coffee.

Orocafe’s coffee farm, named Finca de Cynthia, is dedicated to the production of sustainable high-quality coffee and to the preservation of the 3-acre “rain-forest” located on northern end of the farm. Orocafe’s coffee production will be sold to the Starbucks Coffee Company (Starbucks) after local milling for ultimate roasting and use by Starbucks in the United States. In addition to coffee production, the farm also grows oranges, bananas, cas (a fruit use in a local tropical drink), and mangos for consumption by local markets.

The coffee farming and production methods used by Orocafe were developed by Starbucks under a program called "Coffee and Farmer Equity (CAFE) Practices". Starbucks is providing technical suppport to Orocafe from their Starbucks Agronomy Company located in San Jose (CR). Local Advisors are helping Orocafe meet Starbucks' quality and CAFE standards. The CAFE standards, in addition to addressing quality, also address and evaluate Orocafe on the economic, social, and environmental aspects of coffee production.

Shade trees and bananas plants are grown to cover the coffee plants in order to protect the plants from the intense sunshine and provide litter as mulch that protects the soil and reduces soil erosion. The approximately 200 species of birds that use the Finca as habitat control to a large extent the problems from insects. The result is a balanced, healthy and productive Finca that produces a sustainable high-quality SHB Arabica coffee product.