Costa Rica — Don Lica Torres Cerro Buena Vista Catuaí (Black Cherry Natural)

Tastes Like — 🍒 Cocktail Cherry • 🍷 Port Wine • 🍫 Milk Chocolate • 🎂 White Icing

DETAILS

• Producer: Don Lica Torres
• Farm: Cerro Buena Vista
• Region: Rivas, Brunca, Costa Rica
• Varietal: Catuaí
• Process: Black Cherry Natural
• Altitude: 1,500 MASL

INTRO

From Don Lica Torres at Cerro Buena Vista in Brunca — Costa Rica's southernmost coffee-growing region, and home to one of the most original and technically demanding processing protocols in Central America. The Black Cherry Natural is Lica's most prolific creation: a multi-stage process built around deliberately over-ripened cherries, a seven-day re-fermentation in storage, and a two-stage drying programme that produces a cup of transcendent sweetness and depth. In the cup: cocktail cherry, port wine, milk chocolate, and white icing.

THE PRODUCER

Lica Torres's farm at the foot of Chirripo Volcano is a courageous endeavour in every sense. Brunca is one of the least hospitable coffee-growing environments in Costa Rica — rocky soil, steep inclines, and weather that swings between too hot and too cold. Lica's father originally planted pine trees on the land, which yield returns too slowly to sustain a family. In 2020, inspired by neighbouring families finding success with coffee, Lica took a significant risk and planted Milenio — an experimental hybrid variety being introduced at lower elevations in Brunca — on a farm sitting between 1,500 and 1,600 MASL. The results were promising from the first year, and Lica has since expanded into additional varieties, channelling the same bold spirit into both cultivation and processing.

THE PROCESS

The Black Cherry Natural process at Cerro Buena Vista involves:

🍒 Extended ripening — Cherries allowed to linger on the plant slightly past peak ripeness, developing a darker hue and deeper fruit concentration 🔍 Hand-picking & sorting — Ripe-to-overripe cherries carefully collected by hand 🌑 Propylene bag resting — Cherries placed in propylene bags for approximately 24 hours before drying begins ☀️ First raised-bed drying — Spread on raised beds and dried until moisture content reaches 15–20% 🔒 Seven-day storage fermentation — Lot re-collected into plastic bags and placed in storage for seven days, where fermentation continues slowly and steadily 🪨 Concrete bed finishing — Returned to concrete drying beds until the remaining 5–10% moisture points are lost

The seven-day storage re-fermentation is the defining step — by halting drying mid-way and allowing the lot to continue fermenting slowly in sealed storage, Lica builds an extraordinary depth of dark fruit sweetness and wine-like complexity that could not be achieved through conventional continuous drying, before the concrete-bed finish locks in the confectionary sweetness and clean structure that complete the cup.

THE CUP

A transcendently sweet and darkly complex Black Cherry Natural from one of Costa Rica's most inventive and courageous producers — cocktail cherry and port wine lead with a luscious, wine-tinged acidity, milk chocolate hums quietly through the body, and a confectionary white icing sweetness elevates the finish to something genuinely memorable. Brunca at its boldest and most original.

Flavour Notes

🍒 Cocktail Cherry 🍷 Port Wine 🍫 Milk Chocolate 🎂 White Icing