La Candelilla Estate is a private company owned by seven brothers/ brothersin-law (Ricardo Hernandez, Didier Sanchez, Mario Sanchez, Pablo Sanchez, Hugo Naranjo, Mario René Solis y Enrique Rivera). They all own between 3 to 5 small farms and mill their Coffee at La Candelilla Mill. The Hernandez family has been working the land in Tarrazú for five generations, producing coffee in the same area for over 50 years. Prior to establishing La Candelilla, each sibling separately managed their own plot of land and delivered their coffee to a cooperative managed wet mill for processing.
La Candelilla Estate is well known for being one of the first micro-mills in Costa Rica back in the 2000s and has become famous for producing washed, natural and honey-processed coffees of excellent quality. The farm grows and experiments with different varieties, including Caturra, Catuai, Typica, Geisha and SL28. Candelilla was also one of the first farms in Costa Rica to introduce African beds for the drying process. Also, they do yearly donations to Schools in the area, in order to comply with the regulations of their certification of Café Practice.