For over three generations our family has been producing coffee in the mountains of Tarrazú, Costa Rica. Sitting at an altitude of 1,900 Tarrazú region is rich in volcanic soil and known to offer some of the best Costa Rican coffee.
Eli, Jacob´s grandfather, worked throughout his childhood in coffee, and so did Jacob´s father, Carlos Montero. Their passion for coffee coursed in their veins, but it was impossible to ignore the hardships in the coffee business. And while Carlos watched his father struggle, he set out to create opportunities for himself and ultimately he took over the farm.
Today, Montero family are deeply involved at Don Eli Coffee farm. In the crop 2014 - 2015 was their first year as specialty coffee producers, and leaving the mass production concept behind to uphold the “quality over quantity” mindset. Carlos is aware and is working to get certifications for the farms like NAMA Café, he knows how important it is to have a great soil without chemicals, so he is working on sustainable practices in he’s farms, and as an example he has a nano lot where he hasn’t used any chemicals for many years and want to keep this nano-lot named “Chamaco” as an experiment for the future. Don Eli Coffee is aiming on delivering the best of what Costa Rican soils have to offer.
Also, Jacob is the farm manager . He oversees the wet-mill processing and the quality control of the lots. Jacob is key to the different coffee process. He is also had a degree in economics, which comes useful in helping the family business with the accounts.
Coffee processing: Don Eli have historically planted varieties such as catuai, caturra and typica. However, in recent years they have planted new varieties such as gesha, borbon, sl28 and mundo novo.
For the wet mill processing they work different processes as natural, honey and washed. Also, in recent years they have experimented and introduced anaerobic fermentation processes, taking the control of different variables as pH, temperature and Brix degrees. For drying, they always try to dry the cherries very slowly and cover under shade. Usually the drying process takes between 18 to 40 days.

Info & Photo Credit@cup of excellent