Cerro San Luis Micromill is a family business run by siblings Alexander and Magali Delgado and their partners. Together they own farms and a small processing mill in the Grecia region, in the western valley of Costa Rica. In recent years, they have focused on increasing the quality of their production, replacing old coffee trees with more than ten different varieties, including Caturra, Bourbon (both red and orange), SL-28, Catuai, Villa Sarchi and Maragogype.

This particular batch comes from the Kenyan variety SL-28, which originated in the 1930s as part of a selection from Scott Agricultural Laboratories and may carry genetic links to Yemeni coffee trees.

Costa Rica was the first Central American country to build a full-fledged coffee industry, and coffee has been exported in large quantities since the 1820s. Although it accounts for only a fraction of the world's production, the country has earned a strong reputation for the diversity of varieties grown, the variety of flavor profiles across growing regions, and the emphasis on quality, research and fair conditions for farmers through the Icafe organization.

One of the most important regions is the Western Valley, known for the diversity of its microclimates and the varieties that grow here - this is where many of the winners of the prestigious Cup of Excellence competition come from. Here, the higher altitude and cooler climate slow down the ripening of the cherries, increasing the sugar content and giving rise to an exceptionally high-quality and flavour-complex coffee.

These factors make Costa Rican coffee one of the most sought-after in the world - not only for its exceptional taste, but also for the transparency of its origins and the powerful stories of the people behind it.