Juan Ramon Alvarado, as an agronomist knows very well the production of “boutique” coffee, and also he is familiar with the processing done in the mills. Ten years ago he began to deal with micro mill of Brumas del Zurqui. Brumas del Zurqui is considered one of the most innovative mills in the industry of Costa Rica. Juan Ramon is dedicated to produce and process some of the best honey coffees available. The farms, located in Central Valley, in the area of San Francisco de Heredia are examples of agronomic management. The Zamora is one of these farms, which are applied progressive agronomic practices by soil analysis and tissue, which are used in order to feed the plant with exactly what it needs. In the same mill processes very carefully each fruit after harvest. Since 2010, that Yiannis Taloumis visits Juan Ramon, he witnesses the evolution of the mill and the qualitative improvement happening with every harvest.

Espresso recipe

In: 19gr 

Out: 37gr 

Time: 25sec 

In 2010, Max Perez, coming from a coffee producing family in Huehuetenango, moved to Acatenango at the age of 26 year old and acquired the four pieces (previously called San Mateo) gather them again and call the farm as La Hermosa (The Beauty in Spanish). The farm has been split in different productive areas such as “La Hermosa”, “El Guachipilin”, “Mama Cata”, “La Catarata”, “Bella Airosa” and “La Cuquis”.

La Catarata, one of the farm’s lot, is located in a very strategic place in Acatenango, in the Northern and highest part of the Valley. This area is slightly colder and windy than the rest of the valley which has been convenient to keep the rust under control successfully.

Catarata’s lot is almost one month behind the rest of the farms in Acatenango, influenced basically by the low temperatures at the beginning of this year. I had the opportunity to visit the farm. All the trees are under the shade of taller trees. I am very satisfied from the cooperation as well as from the quality of the coffee that we have received.

Eduardo Ambrocio Remarks
 I had cupped several samples from Acatenango when I participated in the researching for Anacafe to profile Acatenango Region. One of the conclusions at that time is that Acatenango’s main character is its acidity, tending to be deeper, more pronounced and more citric (orange like) when compared to its closest neighbor, Antigua.

Espresso recipe

In: 18,5gr 

Out: 37gr 

Time: 24sec