Obatá · Hacienda Sonora, Central Valley
Costa Rica · Grecia, Alajuela · 1,600 masl · Diego Guardia
Experimental natural at Hacienda Sonora, at the foot of the Poás volcano. Obatá cherries dried whole, the estate's controlled ferment building the caramel sweetness and silky texture.
Dulce Ticos is the easy-drinking one, and it earns the name. Obatá is a soft, sweet variety, and Hacienda Sonora's experimental natural has built a silky, caramel-heavy cup with ripe strawberry and a creamy white-chocolate finish. There is nothing sharp to tame here, the job is to keep it sweet and round.
That is why it is on the Wave. The Kalita's flat bed and even flow protect that silky body and keep the soft fruit from thinning out, and it forgives an imperfect pour. Sort your roast age, your water and your grind, get clear on the cup you are chasing, then brew.
Magnesium 18, bicarbonate 8 (the lowest we tested), chloride 62. The magnesium lifts the strawberry, the low bicarbonate keeps it sweet rather than flat, and the chloride rounds in the silky caramel and white-chocolate body this coffee is built on.
Sweet, silky and easy. Caramel and creamy white chocolate lead, ripe strawberry runs underneath, and the whole cup glides long and smooth. This is a sweetness-first coffee, so chase roundness, not zing. If it turns thin or sharp, drop the temperature and come a touch finer before anything else.