Dominican Republic Barahona Washed

Dominican Republic

Barahona AA • Washed

Sierra de Bahoruco, Barahona & Pedernales • 900–1,200 MASL

The Coffee

This Barahona AA is a regional coffee from the mountains of the Sierra de Bahoruco in the southwestern Dominican Republic. The lot comes from the coffee-producing areas of Barahona and Pedernales, with the municipality identified as Pedernales.

Unlike a farm-specific microlot, this coffee represents the traditional character of its wider growing region. It is cultivated under the shade of Guama and Amapola trees and harvested between November and March. Its approachable sweetness, rounded body, and restrained acidity make it particularly well suited to a balanced medium roast.

The Varieties

This lot combines three Arabica varieties: Typica, Caturra, and Catimor. Typica is one of coffee’s oldest and most influential varieties, valued for its clean structure, balanced sweetness, and refined acidity. Caturra can contribute additional brightness and sweetness, while Catimor was developed for greater resilience under challenging growing conditions.

Together, the three varieties create a classic and accessible cup rather than an intensely exotic one: chocolate-led and creamy, with enough gentle fruit and acidity to keep the coffee lively and balanced.

Processing Method

This coffee undergoes a traditional washed process with a stated fermentation period of approximately 16 hours. Washed processing removes most of the surrounding fruit before drying, helping create a cleaner and more structured expression of the coffee:

• Cherries are selected to remove unripe fruit and foreign material
• The skin and pulp are removed using a depulper
• The coffee is fermented for approximately 16 hours
• The remaining mucilage is removed through washing
• The washed parchment coffee is carefully dried in the sun

This controlled processing supports a clean, balanced profile with rounded sweetness, rather than the heavier fermented-fruit character associated with many natural or experimental coffees.

The Region

The Sierra de Bahoruco is a mountainous coffee-growing area in the southwestern Dominican Republic. This lot is grown between approximately 900 and 1,200 metres above sea level on mountain slopes with an inclination of around 12–20%.

The supplier describes the soil as clay loam belonging to the inceptisol order. Shade from Guama and Amapola trees protects the coffee plants from excessive direct sunlight and contributes to the traditional shaded agricultural landscape of the region.

Barahona is one of the Dominican Republic’s best-known coffee origins. Its coffees are generally appreciated for their generous body, chocolate and nut character, gentle fruit, and balanced Caribbean profile.

Why We Love This Coffee

Not every single-origin coffee needs to be extremely floral, fermented, or intensely acidic. This Barahona is about harmony: comforting chocolate and caramel sweetness, a creamy mouthfeel, and just enough gentle fruit to keep the cup clean and lively.

Our medium roast brings forward milk chocolate, caramel, and toasted almond while preserving a soft red-apple-like brightness. The result is smooth without becoming flat, sweet without tasting heavy, and particularly enjoyable as espresso, in an automatic machine, with milk, or as a rich everyday filter coffee.