Country: Costa Rica
Region: Central Valley
Varietal: Venecia
Process: Natural
Altitude: 1,300 MASL
Cupping Notes: Strawberry, Dates, Lemonade, Plum
Recommended Roast:City to Full City
Good For: Auto Drip, Pour Over, Espresso

Description: Hacienda Sonora sits at 1,300 meters in Costa Rica's Central Valley — the country's original coffee region, where the first plantations were established in the late 18th century. The farm has been in Alberto Guardia's family for more than a century, and when Alberto took it over in the 1970s he planted most of the land in coffee. In 1999, with prices at historic lows, he made the call that defined the farm: he built his own mill so he could control quality end to end, and became one of the early pioneers of honey and natural processing in Costa Rica. His son Diego joined as co-manager in 2011.

Today Sonora grows more than 20 varieties across 80 hectares of coffee, with another 20 hectares held as forest reserve. Volcanic ash soils, well-defined wet and dry seasons off the Pacific slope, and Alberto's long-running experiments with varietal expression make this one of the more interesting farms to buy from in Costa Rica — the lots genuinely cup differently from one another.

Venecia is a naturally occurring single-gene mutation of Caturra, found near the town of Venecia in San Carlos. Its defining trait is an exceptionally slow cherry maturation — the fruit hangs on the branch longer than Caturra does, giving the seed extended access to plant sugars. That shows up in the cup as real density of sweetness.

Processed as a full natural: hand-picked, floater-separated, then dried in cherry on black tarps for 12 days with the layers turned and adjusted throughout for airflow, covered at night against moisture. Three days of warehouse rest at 14%, a final controlled mechanical dry never exceeding 35°C down to 10.5%, then two months of rest before hulling and sorting by weight, screen, density, and color.