Costa Rica Hacienda Sonora Yellow Honey Microlot

Our Costa Rica Hacienda Sonora Yellow Honey Microlot is produced by father and son Alberto and Diego Guardia along with a skilled team who manage nearly 200 acres of different arabica varieties. Catigua is a Yellow Catuai and Timor hybrid variety. It has earned its palace at Hacienda Sonora thanks to a delicious cup quality, high productivity and extraordinary rust resistance.
The size of the plants are similar to Catuai, making it easy to plant them close together. The cherries themselves are also notably quite large.

Going back to its roots over a century ago, Hacienda Sonora has remained connected to the specialty scene as a leader in innovative processing and mixed planting of coffee varieties. Alberto Guardia and his son Diego manage all of Sonora’s 197 acres, keeping each of their coffee varieties strictly separated as individual growing plots. For father and son, it’s common practice to keep everything portioned and easily identifiable until the moment of its export in Grainpro parcels. Sonora is made up of 20% trees and forest, 5% roads, and 75% coffee trees. Incredibly, nearly 50 acres of Sonora is entirely forest reserve! They generate their own energy, and are able to provide their own irrigation using a river that flows through the property as their water source.

When Alberto took over farming operations in the 70’s, he decided that coffee would be its majority agricultural crop, and shortly thereafter it became the family’s main source of income. In 1999, finding coffee prices at a historical low, Alberto invested in a private mill to maximize his quality. In doing so he became a pioneer in the niche, alternate processing methods of Honeys and Naturals. Back then Alberto was pushing the processing envelope, while simultaneously planting an assortment of arabia varieties. Thanks to his insight and strict adherence to planting independence, his living legacy is enshrined as testimonial proof to the varying levels of complexity that different varieties can create in the cup.