Costa Rica Honey Process Hacienda Sonora

This coffee from Hacienda Sonora is part of a family operation that goes back five generations in Costa Rica's West Valley region. The Guardia family have farmed coffee here for more than 100 years, historically selling their harvest to large mills, as was the norm. That all changed in the late 90's with the micro-mill revolution that swept Costa Rica, and, seeing value in controlling their coffee quality through to export, the family erected their own small milling operation at their farm. Currently under the management of Diego Guardia, the farm have decided to move away from more water intensive process methods, favoring honey and dry process instead. This 18 bag lot is considered a "yellow honey", in that roughly 50% of the fruit mucilage is left intact after depulping, and isn't removed until after the coffee is fully dried (to 10-11% moisture). This process method can impact the cup flavors and physical characteristics too. In the case of this coffee, it possesses fruit and wine-like notes, big body, no doubt tied to process method. The beans also look a little darker when roasting, and produce more chaff, both due to the fact that the seeds have more silver skin than a fully washed, wet process coffee. Hacienda Sonora sits at 1300 meters above sea level, and is planted in a variety of cultivars, including this "Centroamericano" separation, which is a first generation hybrid with some resistance to leaf rust. We also purchased a fully natural (dry process) lot from Sonora that comes later in the year.