Don Sabino Costa Rica Natural

After hand harvesting, the coffee is ‘floated’ in water. This rinses the cherries of any leaves, sticks or dirt, and filters out unripe or overripe cherries, ensuring that over 95% is perfectly matured. For fermentation they are placed into a temperature regulated stainless steel tank, flushed with carbon dioxide and then pressurised to around 5 bars.

With cool water flowing through the tanks walls, temperatures are kept below 22c for up to 70 hours. This carbonic maceration process is monitored by pH levels, ensuring no over-fermentation occurs.

Once fermentation is complete, the coffee is sun dried intermittently with a series of controlled thermal shocks at precise moisture levels. These pauses cause the cell structure to expand and contract, helping drive flavour deeper into the seed. During this process, the coffee is moved between raised beds and sealed bags stored in a cool, dark room before returning to the beds. In total, this Gesha takes more than 60 days to produce.

Much like the slopes of Panama, El Vergel Estate sits on an inactive volcano in the mountains of Tolima. Planted at the highest point of the estate which is around 1800masl, the soil and climate here provides excellent nutrition and conditions for complex coffee to flourish.

The beautiful floral attributes and complexity that Gesha and Red Bourbon are famous for, tend to be most expressive when the coffee is grown at high altitudes, these growing conditions extend the cherries maturation time, developing more sugars.

Elias and Shady emphasise the balance between variety and terroir, preserving each while allowing the coffee to express its own personality and vibrance. Their Gesha and carbonic maceration techniques achieve exactly that, delivering intense floral aromatics, complex fruit notes and fine acidity, complemented by a distinct sugary sweetness and long, lingering finish that reflects the region.

It all began in 1995, when the parents of the Bayter Family bought the El Vergel Estate. Starting out with Avocados they made the switch to coffee around 2009, introducing varieties such as catimore and caturra, challenging the limits of their knowledge. Their dedication soon bore fruit (if you will excuse the pun!) and In 2016, they began working with the legendary Miguel Jimenez, who oversaw the planting of Geisha, Java, Pacamara, Red Bourbon and Laurina.

By 2018, El Vergel had introduced advanced natural processing methods, including aerobic and anaerobic fermentations, alongside purpose-built storage silos. Today, the family combines scientific research into bacteria and yeast with constant experimentation, managing more than 28 varietals and becoming Colombia’s first coffee farm to develop the kOJI fermentation process.

Today, El Vergel is led by brothers Elias and Shady Bayter , whose passion and innovation continue to push the boundaries of modern coffee. When they visited us in Australia, we had the privilege of hosting them and hearing firsthand about their processes and philosophy.

We were blown away by their depth of knowledge and advanced methods and they were also absolute legends! We cannot get enough of their coffee, and we’re sure you will feel the same. Thats why we stock so much of it! Check our there other exquisite offerings below!