Don Senel Specialty Coffee began in 2014, when the market shifted, so he made his own lot of coffee from a farm passed down through the family, and achieved a score of 87 points. Coffee has been central to Senel' s life since childhood. At the age of twelve, he established his first nursery of 500 coffee plants. The family now own their micromill and two farms, La Toboba and Cola Roja. Las Huacas is a plot on the Finca La Toboba.
Coffee cherries are transported from the farm to Don Senel’s own micromill. Floating is done via a siphon system, before the coffee is placed on raised beds for 48-72 hours. Manual selection occurs during this time, and Brix level is measured to define the end point, not time. When ready, the cherry is transferred to a shaded greenhouse for temperature control and a slower drying for up to 40 days.
This coffee is processed using Don Senel Speciality Coffee’s ‘Natural Reposado’ method. Ripe, red cherry is hand picked and the Brix level is measured of the cherries, so the sugar in the fermentation stage is controlled.
