Costa Rica - Juanra Montero - Natural

Origin: Costa Rica
Region: Los Santos
Farmer: Juanra Montero
Farm Size & Elevation: 7 Hectares, 1800-1900 MASL
Varietal: Catuai
Processing Method: Natural
Tasting Notes: Plum, Milk Chocolate, Cashew, Jasmine

Presta has been sourcing coffee from the Montero Family for years. Selva Coffee (the importer) was started by the daughter of the Montero Family, and her husband, who is an Arizona local, worked with Presta when it first opened at Mercado San Augustine. Juanra Montero is Don Eli's cousin who runs his own farm and built a micro wet mill to handle the processing for his farm as well as some of the surrounding farms. He is a pioneer of sustainable farming practices in Costa Rica. After nearly going bankrupt attempting to become 100% organic certified, he realized that using sustainable practices would be better both financially, and for the farms production. Creating solutions from by-products of his farm to fertilize the coffee and avocado trees he grows, as well as to fight pests and disease. He also learned to repair the soil that had been badly damaged by chemical products used in the past.

Natural processed coffee uses the least amount of water and energy to accomplish the same goal of removing the coffee seed (bean) from the coffee cherry. Once harvested the coffee cherries are spread out to dry without removing any of the coffee fruit. The beans can be dried in any number of ways, sun or shade, concrete pads or raised beds, 10 days or 28 days, and the drying is often dependent on the weather. Each variation from each farmer will produce a slightly different result.

The lot we chose this year "El Descanso", a natural process coffee named for the "rest" that the coffee takes while it dries. After harvest the coffee is left in piles on raised beds with a covering for 3 days. After the first 3 days the cherries are spread out to an even layer and regularly turned until the cherries have reached an optimum moisture content. The coffee is sent to a nearby operation in  the nearby town, San Lorenzo, to be put through a dry mill before sorting and grading. The result is a delightful silky body, with distinct milk chocolate, and some underlying grape notes.