Cafeology proud to launch new Direct Trade partnership with Café Roberto Mata

It was 2008 when our Founder Bryan Unkles embarked on his first-ever origin trip to beautiful Costa Rica. The first producer he met ‘in the field’ was Roberto Mata, in Dota Valley in the Tarrazu region of the country.

Bryan spent some time with Roberto learning about coffee cultivation, the processes the coffee goes through and just why exactly was Tarrazu coffee just so good. 

Don Roberto Mata is the 4th generation of the Mata’s family in the coffee business. His farm located in Dota Valley, 1550 meters above sea level at the heart of the region of Tarrazu. Tarrazu is world known for producing the finest coffee in Central America where Roberto’s dad was a pioneer in launching innovative techniques to produce high-quality coffee. 

Roberto has been involved in coffee all his life, learning through strong family ties with his father being a pioneer in the Tarrazu region. He launched many new initiatives to create varietals to assist in greater production. 

The farm which Roberto’s father passed down was a total of four hectares. Unfortunately then the farm was not large enough to cover expenses so Roberto put plans in action to purchase more land creating a combined total of 25 hectares.

The further investment came in the shape of their own Mill which opened 2 years ago. This allowed the group to provide a complete solution and total traceability boosting production up to between 100-150 Tonnes per annum. 

Café Roberto Mata’s mission to produce joy and prosperity to everyone involved in the coffee chain in a sustainable way. Roberto describes their coffee flavours as “sweet, good balance, good acidity and with cocoa notes”.

Roberto says about his relationships with Cafeology: “Bryan and I have a good relationship. We met over 10 years ago supplying Caféology.

"The reason for such a long relationship is because Cafeology demands high quality with traceability, paying good prices and supporting our business practices, ensuring we produce and process our wonderful coffee to the very highest standards.

"We share those benefits with the community, workers and family. It has been a win-win relationship, we are happy and looking at how Cafeology is growing, can only be a good thing as we continue to develop together.”

Bryan says: "Cafeology has always prided itself on long-standing, sustainable relationships with all our stakeholders and this one is extremely precious to me.

"We celebrated Cafeology’s 10th birthday together in Costa Rica and enjoyed hosting Roberto during a visit to Sheffield in 2015.

"The coffee is exceptional and with Roberto at the helm, you know all the focus is on quality in a sustainable and caring way. Roberto is a true gentleman and our 100% Direct Trade agreement means we can work closely to assist the farm in the development of coffee whilst at the same time provide our clients with reassurance and fully traceability they require and deserve."