Black & White Coffee Roasters

Lica Torres - Black Cherry Natural

Lica Torres grows Milenio and Catuaí at 1,500 masl on his three-hectare farm at the foot of Chirripo Volcano in Brunca, Costa Rica's southernmost coffee region—a daring venture in challenging terrain. The Black Cherry process, controlled meticulously at Cerro Buena Vista Wet Mill, involves hand-picking over-ripe cherries, fermenting them in bags for 24 hours, drying on raised beds, fermenting again in sealed bags for seven days, then finishing on concrete beds. The cup delivers cocktail cherry and port wine acidity backed by milk chocolate, with white icing sweetness that pushes this coffee toward transcendence. This is a technically ambitious, producer-signature process that rewards careful execution with layered fruit and wine-like complexity.