Cafe Ceres micromill was established in 2019 by Stephanny Fernandez Elizondo and her mother, Alexandra, in Santa Maria de Dota in San José province. The pair have worked together over the years to prepare for this endeavor, aiming to achieve healthy and constant growth and to improve their quality each day. The facility is outfitted with a pulper, greenhouse drying spaces with raised beds, a waste treatment area, and a warehouse for coffee storage.
Along with quality, Stephanny and her mother’s work prioritizes sustainability in everything they do, and the micromill is currently working toward earning Bandera Azul ecological certification. Within the farm, they also regularly carry out training and courses through the Ministry for Agriculture and Livestock (MAG) and the National Coffee Institute (ICAFE) in order to learn about environmental issues and how to best take care of their crops.
This lot of Catuai coffee underwent Red Honey processing at Cafe Ceres micromill. After harvest, coffee cherries were sorted via floatation to remove any underripe or overripe fruit. The cherries were placed into plastic bags and fermented for 72 hours prior to being pulped. The pulped coffee was then fermented in plastic bags for another 48 hours before being dried. The fermented coffee was dried on raised beds for 14 days while being moved every two hours to ensure uniform drying.
This coffee was processed at Jorge Vasquéz Ureña’s Roble Negro micromill in the town of Aserrí in Costa Rica’s Tarrazú region. The micromill partners with local coffee growers like Daniel Monge García to produce quality, traceable lots and to help facilitate access to international markets. The mill was founded in November 2019, initially only fitted with drying beds and patios. The team made several important investments in the mill in 2020, growing the infrastructure to be able to process Natural, Honey, and Washed coffees. Currently the mill’s infrastructure includes:
The Roble Negro micromill is well-known for its high-quality standards and thoughtful sustainability practices. Operations at the mill aim to reduce the use of nonrenewable resources like water and electricity, repurpose waste products into natural fertilizers, and even ensure that the GrainPro used for packing and shipping coffee is reused or recycled by the mill’s global partners.
This lot of Red Catuai coffee underwent Washed processing at Roble Negro micromill. Harvested cherries were sorted via floatation before being pulped. The pulped coffee is then fermented in tanks for 36–40 hours. The fermented coffee was then washed to remove any remaining mucilage before being moved to raised drying beds. The washed coffee was dried for 6–8 days to reach 11% humidity. Dried coffee was stored in the mill’s warehouse for at least two months before being milled and packaged for export.