In the 1950’s, Juan Gonzalez and Salvador Torres pioneered coffee production in the rural community of Barranca de Naranjo in Costa Rica’s West Valley. Over the years, they discovered a new cultivar on their land called Villalobos, a natural mutation of Typica. Gonzalez and Torres observed how well this new cultivar suited the Barranca terroir and decided to increase production.

Salvador’s son, Olivier Torres, inherited the farm and expanded it. While most local farmers replaced their Villalobos trees with higher yielding, more disease resistant varieties, the Torres Family kept Villalobos due to its wonderful and unique cup profile. Today the Torres siblings – three sisters and six brothers – continue to cultivate this single variety on their twelve hectare farm. Stumptown was fortunate to begin purchasing this coffee from the Torres family in 2009, and we’ve been proud partners ever since.

The Torres Family processes their cherry at Helsar de Zarcero micro mill, located just up the hill in Llano Bonito de Naranjo. The Helsar mill is deeply rooted in the local community, processing coffee from thirty coffee farming families in the area. To offset their carbon footprint, they plant trees in a local biological reserve and use low-impact Penagos eco-pulper machinery to meticulously process the coffee.

After nearly seven decades, the Torres siblings continue to innovate while never straying from the rigorous standards passed down through the years. The family continues to be one of the world’s foremost producers of Villalobos.