Don Eli Jacob – Costa Rica

Don Eli Jacob

This coffee comes from the Don Eli wet mill, established in 2014 by Carlos Montero in the El Llano de La Piedra community of San Marcos, Tarrazú. Grown at altitudes between 1500–1700 masl on a 3-hectare farm, this lot features the Catuai variety and has undergone a carefully managed anaerobic fermentation process. The result is a vibrant, fruit-forward profile that reflects the high-quality raw material and precision in processing.

The Montero family has played a significant role in the Micro Mill Revolution in Costa Rica. Carlos Montero, a lifelong coffee farmer, built the Don Eli mill to process his own coffee and create more direct relationships with buyers. His son Jacob now manages processing at the mill, selecting only the best cherries, cleaning them through a floating system, and fermenting them in sealed tanks or bags for 5–6 days based on pH, smell, and visual indicators. After fermentation, the coffee is dried slowly on raised beds over the course of at least a month, allowing for consistent and controlled drying.

In addition to wet processing, the 2024 harvest marks a major step forward for Don Eli’s dry milling capabilities. With newly acquired equipment, the Montero family was able to handle dry milling in-house for the first time, allowing them to sort and prepare their coffees for export with greater precision. This development completes their farm-to-export workflow, reinforcing their focus on quality control and traceability from start to finish.