STORY

With its medium body and slight lingering finish, this coffee from Sonora Estate is a textbook example of a balanced and clean Costa Rican coffee. The drinker is greeted with fruit forward notes of tart apricot and sweet red apple at the start. Hints of bittersweet cocoa come through after, which rounds out this vibrant, flavorful coffee.

Located near the base of Poas Volcano in the Central Valley of Costa Rica, Hacienda Sonora covers approximately 100 hectares of land. Owned and operated by father-son team Alberto and Diego Guardia, Sonora Estate has remained a fixture of the Costa Rican coffee industry for well over a decade. In fact, we have had the pleasure of working with and sourcing coffee from the Guardia family for over ten years. The Guardia family designates 55 hectares of land for coffee, 10 hectares for sugar cane, and 35 hectares for preserved natural forest. The wild vegetation and diverse ecosystem combine with the nutrient rich volcanic soil to nourish the surrounding coffee trees, and thereby contribute to Sonora Estate's exceptional coffee. All of the coffee at Sonora Estate is processed using Honey and Natural Process methods, which helps to conserve a tremendous amount of water. The Honey Process coffee saves about three gallons of water per pound of coffee, while the Natural Process uses no water at all. The Guardia family's focus on environmental preservation and overall dedication to their craft has led us to work with them all these years. We want to thank Diego Guardia for visiting us this past summer from Costa Rica, and talking a moment to meet with our team members and talk all things specialty coffee.