Recommendations for Natural Costa Rican Single-Origin Espresso Beans - Can Costa Rican Coffee Be Used for SOE?

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FrontStreet Coffee's Costa Rican Coffee Estate: Hacienda Sonora

Hacienda Sonora is already a century-old estate, currently co-managed by father and son Alberto Guardia and Diego Guardia. Hacienda Sonora is located in the Western Valley of Costa Rica (actually very close to the Central Valley, with some farm land extending into the Central Valley). The estate's operations particularly emphasize environmental protection—of the 100 hectares of land, 35 hectares remain preserved as pristine forest, and 20 hectares are dedicated to sugarcane cultivation. Even more surprisingly, all electricity used on the estate comes from hydroelectric power generation equipment within the estate. Excess electricity is also provided free of charge to employees working on the estate. The entire estate functions like a small community, with the estate providing wages, free accommodation, and health care services.

Hacienda Sonora can be considered a pioneer in varieties and processing methods in Costa Rica. The various combinations of varieties and processing methods produced annually are highly sought-after treasures among European and American roasters. For example, FrontStreet Coffee's Villa Sarchi natural process coffee scored a high 95 points in Coffee Review in 2016. Even honey processing, which doesn't score as easily, achieved a high score of 94 points. Its natural process product line is renowned in the market for juicy, wine-like, rich ripe fruit and floral notes while maintaining cleanliness; honey processing, aside from various fruit flavors, also features the characteristic sweetness and rich texture typical of honey-processed coffee.

All coffee cherries produced by Hacienda Sonora are processed in their own micro-processing facility. Strict ripe fruit screening procedures are implemented during harvesting. Subsequently, according to different processing methods, every step receives meticulous attention to detail. Finally, rigorous manual removal of defective beans is required—this is also the primary reason why the cup flavors are so richly layered yet maintain cleanliness.

FrontStreet Coffee's Costa Rican Coffee Variety: Villa Sarchi

A variety first discovered in Costa Rica's Western Valley in the 1960s, it's a branch variant of Bourbon, known locally as "God's Gift" or "God's Coffee Bean." Global varieties tend to focus on new breeding directions for disease resistance and high yield, making these original mutation varieties rarely cultivated. Fortunately, the historically rich Hacienda Sonora estate still preserves these ancient varieties.

Sustainable Cultivation

Hacienda Sonora often processes coffee through honey and natural methods because coffees processed using these methods have excellent cupping flavors while also saving significant amounts of water for the washing station. Using honey processing saves over 3 gallons of water per pound of coffee, while natural processing requires no water at all. The energy used by the estate is 100% renewable and all obtained from the estate itself. The farm utilizes special turbines—Pelton water wheels—to harvest these green energy sources from natural rivers. This energy powers the coffee processing facility and also provides some free electricity for people living and working on the estate.

Important Notice :

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