Café Sotavento brings you an exotic variety never seen before in Puerto Rico
In our content about Puerto Rican coffee, we've always provided information about the most common Arabica varieties in Puerto Rico. Varieties such as Limaní, Frontón, and the most recent to be propagated, Marsellesa. Recently, in conversations with the young coffee grower from Guayanilla, Remy Rodriguez, he confirms that he is working on a new variety on his farm. It's a variety from Central America and it's called H1 Centroamericano.
This variety has similar characteristics to Frontón and Limaní in the way that it’s resistant to coffee rust, a pest that lives on the leaves of the coffee bush. The H1 Centroamericano variety is very convenient because it doesn't require high altitude for its proper development (1,300 meters above sea level). Instead, it seeks a healthy soil and agroforestry, which is precisely the practice Remy Rodriguez develops at Hacienda Anita, home of Café Sotavento.
According to World Coffee Research, the Central American H1 variety has very high yield potential, an excellent cup, and is highly resistant to coffee rust. Produced under the best conditions, this variety can produce a cup of extraordinary complexity. Remi uses this variety through a natural process, and we were able to perceive notes of nuts, strawberries, blueberries, molasses, and a tamarind acidity. It also has a very creamy body and a very pleasant, smooth chocolate aftertaste.
As a matter of fact, Remi managed to obtain the Central American H1 as a part of an initiative of World Coffee Research, together with Starbucks that selected Hacienda Anita in 2020 as a model farm to experiment with the development of this variety. Also, aside from Remi, nine other farms were also selected, and to this day, only four farms remain producing the H1 in Puerto Rico. Hacienda Anita only has one parcel of 400 trees, making this coffee extremely limited on the market.
For the moment this coffee in Puerto Rico can be considered exotic. It is a variety that Remi is using to experiment and test the potential of his farm and the agroforestry ecosystem he is developing at nearly 3,000 feet above sea level at Hacienda Anita in the town of Guayanilla. An agroforestry ecosystem provides many benefits, with temperature control being one of the most notable. Having the coffee plantation within a forest helps maintain cool temperatures, allowing the coffee cherries to ripen with less stress, which helps the coffee sugars develop better. The forest also contributes to the flora and fauna. This biodiversity helps with pest control and increases the probability of a healthy coffee tree growth.
Among the varieties Remy is developing on various plots of the farm are Limaní, Frontón, Typica, H1 Centroamericano, Marsellesa, and Red Catuai. Thanks, Remi, for all your effort in developing Puerto Rico's Specialty Coffee Industry with organic & sustainable agricultural practices. The result of a cup of Café Sotavento represents the respect for our ancestors jibaros and love and hard work for our Puerto Rican coffee.
Get Café Sotavento H1 Centroamericano Natural Process here: SOON!
