Hacienda Sonora

FARM: Hacienda Sonora / Owned by Alberto & Diego Guarda

ORIGIN: Carrillos Alto de Poás, Alajuela, Central Valley, Costa Rica

VARIETALS: Victoria 14

PROCESS: Dry-processed/Natural

ALTITUDE: 1300 M

TASTING NOTES: Strawberry, Green Grape, Mulling Spices, Syrupy

ROAST: Medium

Though most of our coffee is sourced via direct trade with small farms in Nicaragua, we do look for other great producers elsewhere. While hunting for a fruit-forward dry-processed coffee to last us through 2026, we stumbled upon Hacea down in Anaheim. We requested samples and after over caffeinating ourselves at the cupping table, this coffee stood out to us so much that we decided to buy the rest of last harvest's crop.

Alberto Guarda and his family has owned their coffee farm for over a century. They grow a unique varietal called Victoria 14, a hybrid resistant to disease. The ripe cherries are picked and dunked in water for ripeness separation. Next they are dried with the fruit intact on black tarps for 12 days. The coffee is then moved to the warehouse to dry for several days, and eventually goes through a mechanical dryer to achieve 10.5% humidity.

This coffee exhibits a ton of complexity - when warm we get jammy strawberry and milk chocolate, as it cools the acidity increases and reminds us of biting in a fresh green grape. Despite the fruitiness, we do feel there is a background note of mulling spices which helps to structure the overall cup. Does well in all brew methods but using it as a french press or iced pour over stood out to us the most - best enjoyed plain.