Flavour Description: Mango, Yellow Plum, Juicy.
Producer: Tomas Gutierrez & Allan Vargas.
Region / Country: Naranjo, Western Valley, Costa Rica.
Varietal: Yellow Obata.
Process: Natural Process.
Lot Name: San Juanillo.
San Juanillo is the name and area of this beautiful farm facing the pacific coast which Tomas and Allan own, they are professionals in agronomy and know exactly what they are doing in this farm. This lot is at 1400-1600 masl. It’s very important for them to do soil and leaf analysis that helps them make choices of what nutrients their farm needs. They fertilize three times a year and try to work the farm as sustainable as possible. Thomas is focusing nowadays in growing varieties that are resistant to climate change, for example Hybrids like Yellow OBata like this lot that have been giving them great results. He focuses on sustainable practices in the farm and he has been doing experiments applying different products over the years to improve the quality and the production, e.g they have been applying a foliar biostimulant that have been giving them great results in the cup (over one point higher in the cupping score).
100% ripe cherries are picked in the farm, the coffee is then transported to the Patalillo wet mill, the first step would be to take out any strange material such as branches, stones and leaves. After floating the coffee, they pass it to a fermentation tank, the idea is to have a fermentation process in a controlled environment, they can control the temperature in the tanks by applying water. The fermentation allows having better fruit notes in the final process, normally the fermentation would be for 12 to 24 hrs. After the dry fermentation, the coffee is transported to the greenhouse to dry in raised beds or patios for 1.5 to 2 weeks. When the coffee is almost ready its then moved to the mechanical dryer to finish the process just for the final touch and to make sure that the lot is uniform in humidity. At the dry milling to take the husk out they are using a machine that uses blades instead of friction allowing a better performance of the quality and less amount of mechanical defects.
Finca V&G (Vargas and Gutierrez) San Juanillo is the brainchild of an agronomist (Tomas Gutierrez) and an industrial engineer (Allan Vargas), who shared a vision for this beautiful farm in San Juanillo, Naranjo when they bought it in 2007. Part of this vision was to create a model for how a modern-day, sustainable coffee farm should look. They wanted to shake the shackles of any old-school thought and draw on the best technical advice out there. Including the use of hybrid varieties, renovation techniques, and fertilizer applications. Taking a more scientific approach to the management of the farm, without forgetting environmental responsibilities – the farm is Rainforest Alliance Certified.