From Horsham Coffee Roaster:
Tasting notes: Muscavado Sugar, Red Apple, Cherry, Caramel, Raisin
Brewing: This coffee works well with all filter brewers and espresso. For filter we recommend a 1 - 15.5 brew ratio, and for espresso a 1 - 2.25 brew ratio. Example:
Filter: 16g - 250ml // Espresso: 18g - 40.5ml
For over three generations the Montero family has been producing coffee in the stunning mountains of Tarrazú, Costa Rica. Sitting at an altitude of 1,800 masl “La Pastora” micro region is rich in volcanic soil and known to offer some of the best Costa Rican coffee.
Eli, the grandfather, worked throughout his childhood in coffee, and so did his son, 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, Carlos and his entire family are deeply involved at Don Eli Coffee farm and micro mill. But in the harvest year of 2014 to 2015, Carlos and his family took their biggest risk yet. It was their first year as specialty coffee producers. But Carlos explains that this way they can regulate their coffee business, focus on innovative processing methods and ensure the quality. They were leaving the mass production concept behind to uphold the “quality over quantity” mindset. Carlos is aware and is working to get certifications for his 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.
Production process: Carlos started this year to be more aware and to pay more attention to his picker’s and the cherry sorting. He makes sure the pickers have sorted and separated the unripe cherries they picked and put them in a different bag before he measures the coffee by cajuelas. Carlos and his son Jacob are a team when they process the coffee. After Carlos measures the coffee for he’s pickers, usually in the afternoon, he takes the cherries to his mill, where Jacob is waiting for him to start to process the coffee. They move the coffee cherries from the truck to a big pile and throw some clean water on the pile to wash the cherries and to help move the cherries to continue their way to the the depulping machine that separates the pulp and skin from the beans. After this the beans are moved to the machines that washes the coffee. At the end of this step the coffee is moved through a tube by the water pressure to a big tank. By the time the coffee gets to the big tank the mucilage has been almost completely removed, however the beans still keep a little amount of mucilage, and that’s why Carlos called the process white honey.
Drying: After the coffee is moved to the big tank, they move the coffee in buckets to the African beds inside an open greenhouse. Mariajose, Carlos daughter, and another worker are in charge of the drying phase. They move the coffee every hour evenly and keep a track of every coffee that comes inside the greenhouse to dry. The coffee takes around 10-12 days to get to the right moisture content 10%-10,5%. This year Carlos implement different levels so he could dry the coffee slower and it also helps him to have more space to dry coffee.
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