Country
Costa Rica
Location
Central Valley
Altitude (masl)
1,300-1,825 m.a.s.l.
Varieties
catuai, caturra, H1, geisha, SL28, hybrids & experimental cultivars
Hacienda Sonora Estate has been in Alberto’s family for more than a Century. In the 1970s when Alberto took over the farm,
he began planting most 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, to do so he became a pioneer in very alternative processing techniques such as Honey and Naturals. Also became living proof of how different varietals could create different levels of complexity in the cup.
In 2011, Alberto’s son, Diego, joined the operation as co-manager.
Nowadays, Sonora has more than 20 different varieties of plants in 80 hectares of coffee (+ 20 hectares of forest reserve) and is known to be a welcoming place forcoffee lovers.
Hacienda Sonora has been part of the specialty scene since itsearly days, always leading in innovation through its various processing methods and plant varietals. The farm has more than 20 varieties in production, “SL28” being one of them.
Besides having a nice and complex cup, SL28 is drought tolerant and has very good cup quality potential. The natural drying process used for this micro-lot enhances the various fruit notes that accompany the tropical flavors.
Processing:Hand-picked, floater separation, then patio dried for 9 days, then it rests for 3 days at the warehouse at 14% humidity and afterward is mechanically dried for better uniformity at temperatures that never exceed 35C. Once the coffee reaches a humidity of 10.5% it rests in parchment for 2 Months before going through weight, screen, density, and color sorting.