Roble Negro, Lorena Jimenez

Coffee producer Ana Lorena Jiménez Castro operates Finca El Zapote and Finca El Cristóbal in Tarbaca, Aserrí, in the Tarrazú region of Costa Rica. Lorena purchased Finca El Zapote in 2019, initially working alone. She quickly expanded production with the help of her son, Christopher. After working together through the 2020 season, the two would go on to acquire Finca El Cristóbal.

As a producer, Lorena aspires to be recognized for the high quality of her specialty coffee. To achieve this, she works as sustainably as possible using no herbicides and only natural fungicide for her plants. Currently, Lorena processes all of her coffee at the Roble Negro mill. 

The Roble Negro mill is well-known for its high quality standards and thoughtful sustainability practices. Operations at the mill aim to reduce the use of nonrenewable resources like water and electricity, repurpose waste products into natural fertilizers, and even ensure that the GrainPro used for packing and shipping coffee is reused or recycled by the mill’s global partners.

This lot of Catuai coffee underwent Washed processing at Roble Negro. Harvested cherries were sorted via floatation before being pulped. The pulped coffee is then fermented in tanks for 36–40 hours. The fermented coffee was then washed to remove any remaining mucilage before being moved to raised drying beds. The washed coffee was dried for 6–8 days to reach 11% humidity. Dried coffee was rested in the mill’s warehouse for at least two months before being milled and packaged for export.

Flavor profile: Orange, caramel, cacao