The Monteverde Story
In 1989, RC Beall, owner of Montana Coffee Traders, traveled the rough dirt road three hours up into the Cloud Forest and met an amazing community that opposes the destruction of the fragile ecosystems of the Cloud Forest. Over the next year, RC and Carlos Vargas, then manager for the Santa Elena Cooperative, talked coffee, roasted coffee and eventually set up MCT's first "Coffee with a Cause", Cafe Monteverde.
RC and Carlos traveled back and forth between the US and Costa Rica developing the direct relationship between the growers of Santa Elena and MCT. In the process, RC learned the intricacies involved in growing coffee, and Carlos and others to follow, learned the intricacies to roasting and retailing coffee. More, they established a friendship that has lasted through the years. And the friendship is vital, because the business relationship is built on the principle of treating each other fairly.
In that spirit, MCT developed the dollar back program in which, one dollar of every pound of Cafe Monteverde sold in the US goes directly back to the Santa Elena Cooperative. In 1990, the Cooperative opened a small roasting facility that for the first time made it possible to offer locally grown and roasted coffee to the growing tourist trade. In one location, you can see the coffee fields, the processing and the roasting of Cafe Monteverde. The Cooperative receives one of the highest prices in Costa Rica for its green coffee.
Montana Coffee Traders and the Santa Elena Cooperative thank you for your support in our joint effort to conduct business in a way that is mutually respective to all the elements it takes to produce this good up of coffee.
Cooperative Santa Elena was formed to meet local needs. The Coop promotes ecologically sound agricultural practices. The Coop has over 700 members and offers services to 3,000 residents. The Coop includes a variety of stores and services.
Casem was created in 1982 by local artisans interested in creating job opportunities for women while allowing them to work at home and care for their families. Casem gives 65% of the sale to the individual artesian.
A truly local coffee house, the Roaster was established with funds from the dollar back program. In one place you are able to see the coffee fields, processing, grading and roasting of coffee. The Roaster helps to keep tourist dollars in the area.
Finca La Bella is a sustainable development project which is making arable land available to landless residents of San Luis, Costa Rica. In ex- change for "sweat equity" farmers are receiving plots of land on which to grow cash crops and food for their families. Finca La Bella is an attempt to balance the needs of making a living off the land and caring for the land by using sustainable agricultural practices. The Quakers helped the Coop to purchase the land, which supports 14 families currently, a medical center, and a kindergarten.
The Monteverde Conservation League is a protective organization formed by biological researchers who saw a need to provide protection of the rain forest zone.
Bosque Eterno de los Ninos or BEN is an 18,000 acre Pre- serve that includes two research stations. BEN is administered by the Monteverde Conservation League, and is the first International Children's Rainforest.
The Centro De Educacion Creativa was founded to train a new generation of ecologically aware, bilingual students to respond to the increasing pressures of tourism and development.
The Monteverde Butterfly Garden has a year round green house and nature center. You can observe all the different stages of a butterflies' life at the Butterfly Garden.
The Science Center is a non-profit organization that administers the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve. This includes the management of the actual preserve, the research facility and visitor center.