History

Finca Llano Grande was acquired by Rafael Sr. in the early 1990’s. It is made up of 4 parcels of land all bought from different people and joined to make one body. Originally it was a coffee plantation made up 100% of Red Bourbon trees. 

One day, Rafael decided to take on a new adventure and began removing the coffee trees to make room for nurseries. These would then be the home for all kinds of different plants and flowers. Apaneca has no water springs or rivers, so in order to keep his plants healthy, Rafael would buy a tractor and dig up two 10 meter deep reservoirs that can hold up to 1,100,000 gallons of water. 

In 2006, Rafael decided to remove all Red Bourbon trees and replace them with specially selected Pacamara seeds. The quality of the Pacamara at Llano Grande surprised Rafael during the first harvest and continues to surprise us year by year. 

By 2008, he decided it was time for him to control all variables in the processing of his coffees and decided to stop producing plants and began building the mill in 2010. The mill began operating in 2011 and every year since then Rafael is looking for new ways to improve. 

In 2010 Llano Grande competed for its first time in Cup of Excellence and obtained tenth place. In 2012 Llano Grande once again competed and successfully landed in the top 10 of the Cup of Excellence.

In 2018, part of Llano Grande was renewed with new Pacamaras and older unhealthy trees were pruned. We will be slowly renewing the parts of this small plantation that need it the most.

Special Geisha seedlings were planted in Llano Grande in September 2019. They have just had their first flowering and it was a good one. The trees are looking really healthy and these small number of trees will be analyzed properly to be used as a seed bank.