Origin: Costa Rica 
Farm: La Bandera
Region: Los Santos
Process: Natural
Variety: Catuai
Altitude: 1950
Reminds us of: BlackBerry, Orange Cream, Cola
Producer Story
While there are many excellent, small wet mills in Costa Rica, very few can compare
to the prestige that’
s been earned by Diego Hidalgo at La Bandera. Beginning with
the small area Diego
’
s family comes from between Santa Maria and Copey de Dota
called La Bandera. It’
s a picturesque mountain side surrounded by pure tropical
forests of this Costa Rican Microclimate. Absolutely perfect conditions for growing the
highest quality of unique varieties at a high altitude. Only a few years ago, it was too
cold to plant coffee in this area.
As it was quite common in his community, Diego spent a lot of time in the United
States - working and saving up to invest back into his family
’
s coffee. When he
returned to Costa Rica and Santa Maria - it was around the time of the micro mill
revolution. The prices for fruit were very low and a lot of people started to process
their own coffee. Diego was courageous and ambitious enough to slowly take over
his family
’
s farm while also establishing their own wet mill to produce specialty
coffee.
Over time, Diego thought it to start planting new and rare varieties higher and higher
up on the family farm. As he excelled at processing the fruit on his own he also
learned how to execute various different techniques - producing some of the most
cutting edge coffees out there. The expertise at La Bandera has resulted in multiple
accolades at many competitions and auctions. This is a truly special producer and
farm that’
s made itself great over the years and will continue to do so for a long time