La Amistad Estate, Costa Rica

La Amistad Estate, owned and operated by Roberto Montero, is located in Las Mellizas, Costa Rica near the Panamanian boarder and is a part of La Amistad Rainforest Reserve. The Reserve itself conserves 23,465 acres of Costa Rican Rainforest, constituting the largest protected area in Central America. Only 5% of the land is used for coffee production.

The estate was established in 1937 and was bought by the Montero family in the 80s. The Monteros immediately began to grow and process the coffee organically and Roberto has continued to make developments to the farm so that his coffee and fruit production leave a zero-carbon footprint. The La Amistad Estate, Reserve and Eco-Lodge have been an example of “sustainable development” since before the term existed and have since been declared a biological corridor, a World Heritage Site and a biosphere reserve by UNESCO and the United Nations.

We started working with La Amistad in 2006 and in October of 2011, Gervais was able to visit the farm and see their sustainable practices for himself. Everything about Roberto’s estate is sustainable, all the way down to reusing the water needed to wash the beans in order to make the coffee dryers run. The La Amistad Estate is different from our other relationships in that it is significantly larger than any of the other farms that we work with. Through the fair trade of his coffees, Roberto is able to provide housing and well being for the year round farmers, as well as pay and housing for seasonal harvesters, often immigrants from Panama in search of well being.

We enjoy knowing that by purchasing our beans from La Amistad Estate, we are contributing to the effort to conserve the Central American Rainforest and develop more sustainable farming practices in Costa Rica. We would love for you to try a cup of our Organic Costa Rican La Amistad, and taste the difference you would be making as well!