Montes de Oro

STORY

The Gamboa family has passed on the tradition of farming coffee from each generation since the 1800s. It wasn’t until 2006 however that they began milling their own coffee at Montes De Oro. During the early 2000s it became popular for farmers to open their own micro-mills, pulling out of their cooperatives and centralized mills.

Owning and operating a micro-mill gives producers the advantage of controlling the processing of their coffees, as well as the marketing process. It also provides a greater opportunity to create strong relationships with buyers and sell under a direct trade framework. On this side of the supply chain, we benefit from succinct traceability of each coffee to origin, and get to share the stories behind each lot and producer. 

There are many hands that play a role in coffee along the supply chain, from planting the seed to pouring the brewed coffee into your cup. High quality specialty coffee is the product of the hard work of those that pick cherries with the greatest intention and knowledge of the ripest cherries. 

This lot comes from El finca Carrizal, one of the Gamboa’s four farms in the Tarrazú canton. Coffee is picked by workers and they receive pay on a daily basis. Pickers are paid for the amount of cajuela they have filled at the end of the day. A cajuela is a measurement unit equaling 12.5 kilograms of cherries. When coffee travels from the farm to the mill the coffee is accounted for by the fanega. A fanega is equal to 250 kilograms, or 20 cajuelas.