Costa Rica - Hacienda Sonora - Bourbon Natural

Hacienda Sonora is a historic coffee farm with a century-old legacy, situated in Costa Rica’s West Valley at the foot of the Poás Volcano at 1,300 meters above sea level. Once a sugarcane plantation with its own factory, the farm transitioned to coffee cultivation and is now managed by Alberto Guardia and his son, Diego Guardia. Spanning 100 hectares, 65 hectares are dedicated to coffee cultivation, while the rest remains a protected forest, fostering biodiversity and ideal growing conditions. The farm’s naturally rich volcanic soil, coupled with the shade of wild trees and diverse vegetation, creates an optimal environment for coffee production. A major factor that sets Hacienda Sonora apart is its on-site micromill, built in 1999 during the coffee crisis to ensure sustainability and maintain control over processing and quality. The farm is dedicated to environmentally friendly practices, relying on Natural and Honey processing methods with minimal water usage. This lot features the Bourbon variety, processed as a sun-dried Natural. What makes Hacienda Sonora’s Natural process distinctive is its drying method, which eliminates the use of raised beds. Instead, cherries are dried on large black sheets (Zaran), made from braided plastic threads, laid on short-cut grass fields. Cherries receive direct sunlight from sunrise to afternoon, after which the Zaran sheets are rolled up using tractors and stacked into pyramids overnight. This method ensures slow, even drying, taking approximately two weeks to reach 14% moisture content. The coffee is then rested in a warehouse before undergoing final mechanical drying to 11% moisture. The beans are hulled, screen-sorted, and color-sorted to remove any defects before export, ensuring a clean, high-quality cup.