Santamaría Estate Coffee developed the hydronatural process from a trial and error period of three years, with the goal of looking for different flavour profiles beyond traditional washed or natural processes. After hand picking and sorting ripe cherries, the coffees are fermented then rehydrated as whole cherries, slow dried for four weeks on African beds in indirect sun.
The farm is located in Paso Ancho, Tierras Altas District, Province of Chiriquí, Republic of Panama. The lowest point of the farm planted with coffee is 1564 m.a.s.l. while the highest point reaches up to 1946 m.a.s.l. The total farm area is 120 ha of which currently 60 ha are planted with coffee of varieties Caturra, Typica or Criollo and Geisha. The soils have special volcanic characteristics and together with certain amount of rainfall per year and varieties of high quality Arabica coffee produce coffee beans that have very special aroma, acidity and body.
This farm was started 1950 by its founder Don Urbano Santamaría who established the coffee plantations to sell to the Martins family, the owner of the Finca La Florentina S.A., neighbouring the Santamaría property. He began planting tall Arabica varieties like Criollo, Bourbon and Mundo Novo at a density of 1800 seedlings per hectare.
Due to health reasons Don Urbano Santamaría handed over the administration of his estate in 1980 to Don José Luis Santamaría, who continued with the farming practices and maintenance of the estate. He began to plant low tree but high-yielding variety such as Caturra, which has become predominant variety on the farm and currently accounts for 80% of its production.
In the 1990s Edwin Santamaría took over the management of the farm bringing a new dynamic to it, improving the planting and production processes that helped to increase productivity and significantly improved coffee quality. It is already the third generation of coffee farmers devoted to their work.
Due to the introduction of the Caturra variety on the farm, the planting density has been increased to 3600 seedlings per hectare as Caturra was replanted in between tall varieties. This produced a unique combination in all lots, and at that time this diversity resulted in high-quality coffee and improved production per hectare.
The farm is looking to apply environmentally friendly agricultural practices for example applying organic agricultural products and in green label it is not allowed to apply insecticides, cut the trees and hunt. In addition, the farm keeps certain areas as a forest reserve with sources of crystalline potable water that provide water to cooperating families and also to the ecological processing plant.
Recommendation:
Rest time: 3 weeks
Espresso: 1:2.5, 30s. 90c
Filter: 1:15-16, 88-90c
