Phil & Sebastian Coffee Roasters - Costa Rica, Familia Solis

Alejandro and Horacio Solis are the two giants among men that run the micromill “Don Oscar”. They started the mill in 2014 and we’ve been working with them since day one. The name Don Oscar comes from their father, Oscar Solis, who passed away a few years after they launched their micromill. Oscar was the first generation farmer in the family and, for most of his life, he would pick cherries and sell the fruit to a local coop. This coop would pay by weight and did not care if the cherries were of great variety and picked with great care. It would all go into a big regional blend of terrible coffee and incredible coffee. That was the model throughout Costa Rica until about 10-12 years ago where a lot of small farmers began to invest in equipment at their farm so they could process their coffee internally. This allowed them to sell their coffee as a unique, farm-level product that was much better than the regional blends. With the help of exporters with a vision, and roasters looking for better coffees, the farmers were able to fetch a much higher price by processing their own coffee.