about Don Eli
Carlos Montero is one of the most prolific farmers to come out of the landscape of Costa Rica’s coffee producing culture. Some of his earliest memories recall picking up fallen coffee cherries off of the ground in order to help his family or make some extra spending money. When Carlos was growing up, Costa Rica felt like a different place - it was a country on the brink of development and Carlos remembers being brought up very humbly. Eli, his father, worked as an employee of a land owner that grew coffee in the area in which Carlos’ wet mill is today. Eli worked tirelessly as a farm hand, responsible for establishing many of the plantations still producing today, and was known around the village for selling lottery tickets to make extra money. Eventually, Carlos’ dad was able to acquire some land of his own in order to grow coffee and turned out to be one of the founding members of the world famous CoopeDota in 1960. The cooperative model of production continued to be the engine of coffee farming in Costa Rica and enabled Eli and his wife, Clara Luz , to provide a good life for their family of 9.
The dream of bridging his background as a coffee producer with his love of people and places continued to drive Carlos throughout his transformation into a settled down adult. He spent a few years in New Jersey, USA working in diners as a dishwasher, cook, and server to save up for his very own farms back home in Costa Rica. Carlos looks back on this pivotal time in his life fondly and is thankful for the opportunity to have experienced so many fascinating cultures while saving for the ability to have his own farms. After returning to his beloved Tarrazu with some savings, the help of his family, and cunning negotiations - Carlos acquired his first properties to grow coffee. For years, he was content managing his farms commercially, delivering his fruit to nearby cooperatives, and building a community with his new family - Lucia, Marianela, Jacob, and Maria Jose. Until, he began to take notice of a new phenomenon taking place around him - the micro mill revolution.
As the cooperative producing model became less and less financially sustainable for the Montero Family, they began to take notice of their peers receiving better premiums for processing their own fruit, and that this new system lended to greater transparency when trading - Carlos got the bug to construct his own wet-mill. Carlos took advantage of a few opportunities that presented themselves and he sold his half of a farm, in San Pedro de Tarrazu, back to his brother, Manuel. With that money, Carlos was able to purchase the land on the other side of the Pirris river from his home which happened to be up for sale at the time - where Finca Tematica is today and begin to build his wet mill. An American named Tim O'brien who was processing fruit for growers in Tarrazu had decided to go back to the states and was selling his processing equipment for a good deal, and so Carlos had all he needed to create what we know today as Micro Beneficio Don Eli.
