LA AURORA
Sustainable Coffee Farming
Finca La Aurora is owned by Roberto Brenes and located at the North West corner of the Chiriquí province in the region of Piedra La Candela, only two kilometers from the border of Costa Rica. It is devoted to the production of high quality Geishas on Finca Auromar (named after Roberto’s daughter Aurora and his granddaughter Mar) and other SHB coffees on Finca Alma. The finca is located between 1.579 and 1.770 mts and comprised of 30 has, 14.5 of which are farmed, the rest remains pristine highland tropical forest.
The coffes on La Aurora are grown in a sustainable environment, preserving at maximum the flora and fauna of the farm. Roberto reforested a big part of the farm with native, beneficial trees, since he took it over in 2006. The coffees thrive in an environment they feel very comfortable in – in the middle of the jungle, with shade provided by native trees, a stable microclimate with little difference in temperature between night and day, on steep hillsides. The high altitude in combination with the favorable environmental factors provide for a limited-supply, highly complex coffee, which has won several national and international awards.
Roberto Brenes is a really interesting personality. As director of the Panamanian stock exchange and ex director of Panama’s Central Bank, he is an eminent authority on the local finance sector. He spent several years in exile, as a result of being an outspoken critic of the Noriega regime, as well as some years in New York where he earned an MBA. He is a passionate Ironman participant and a dedicated coffee grower. The zeal he brings to everything in his life he is now applying to coffee farming and the results are obvious.
