Country: Costa Rica
Region: Poas, Central Valley
Varietal: Caturra
Process: Natural
Altitude: 1,300 MASL
Cupping Notes: Strawberry, Nougat, Creamy
Recommended Roast: City to Full City
Good For:Auto Drip, Pour Over, Espresso

Description:  Hacienda Sonora Estate has been in Alberto’s family for more than a Century. In the 1970’s when Alberto took over the farm he began planting the majority of the land with coffee and shortly after it became the main source of income. In 1999 with historical low coffee prices Alberto invested in a Mill to be able to maximize his quality, in order to do so he became a pioneer in very alternative processing techniques at the time, such as Honeys and Naturals. Also became a living proof of how different varietals could create different level of complexity in the cup. In 2011, Alberto’s son Diego became the co-manager of Hacienda Sonora and has combined his father’s longtime experience with his background in engineering to take an innovative approach and start new projects. Nowadays, Sonora has more than 20 different varietals of plants in 80 hectares of coffee along with 20 hectares of forest reserve.

This coffee is carefully handpicked and first goes through floater separation, then dried with the fruit still intact. The cherries are spread out on black tarps for 12 days, with layers adjusted throughout the drying process to ensure proper airflow and always covered at night to protect them from excess moisture. After drying to 14% humidity the coffee is transferred to rest in a warehouse for three days. After this short resting period the coffee is finished in a mechanical dryer, where temperatures never exceed 35C. Once beans reach a stable level of 10.5%, they are rested for another two month. Finally the coffee is hulled and meticulously sorted by weight, screen size, density, and color to guarantee consistency and quality.