Esteven Vargas and his father, Hiver Vargas, started the Don Sabino micromill in around 2011, though both men have been in coffee their whole lives. Starting in 2014, the father-son partners decided to switch all of their production over to naturals, because they like the profile, and our green-coffee buyer Luis Arocha says, "I keep asking them their secret, because their coffee is very good!" The cups have a very delicate acidity for being full naturals, and articulate sweetness and complex flavor.
Perhaps one of the secrets of their production is that they keep things close to home—literally— which helps them control quality. After the coffee is harvested, dried, and milled, it is stored at the family house: "If you're in the living room and you walk through the rooms, you will see coffee bags stored all over the house." Luis says. "When you're in the house, there is the intense aroma of raisin because the coffee is so intense."
For more information about coffee production in Costa Rica, visit our Costa Rica Origin Page.
