Senior & Co

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SINCE 1896
Our history started in the year of 1896 when the firm Senior & Co, founded by Haim Mendes Chumaceiro ( also known as Shon Inchi) and his business partner Edgar Senior, operated a drugstore on Curacao called ‘Botika Excelsior’. The walls of that botika witnessed the beginning of it all when Chumaceiro started producing an “aperitif” or “digestive”, using the recipe of his family and naming it Senior’s Curacao Tonic. They quickly changed the name to Senior’s Curacao Liqueur.

By the year 1900, After the passing of Chumaceiro, his widow continued his legacy at her home but in modest quantities. It was not until 1945 that the company started getting its shape. The present firm of Senior & Co. was incorporated, and the descendants of the Senior and Chumaceiro families, plus several of the larger business enterprises on the island held its shares. At the same time, the new company purchased the recipe from the widow Chumaceiro.

The Valencia orange arrives in Curaçao
Shortly after the conquest of Curaçao in 1499, the Spaniards planned for the agricultural development of the island. One of the plants they carried with care on their long sea voyages from Spain was the so-called “Valencia” orange, which was very sweet and tasteful.  However, Curaçao’s sizzling sun and arid climate turned the beloved Valencia orange into a kind of bitter, almost inedible fruit. Because of this. the orange trees were abandoned.

The unique Laraha orange
It was not until decades later that local planters discovered that the peels of this unique orange, thoroughly dried by the sun, contained etheric oils with an extraordinary pleasing fragrance. In order to not let crops go to waste they started developing their own recipe to share with friends and family. The Valencia orange had found a new purpose. 

By this time, the stepchild of the Valencia orange had received its own Latin botanical name, Citrus Aurantium Currassuviensis, meaning “Golden Orange of Curacao”. In the local tongue simply named Laraha.

The Laraha tree is our hero and the reason why it is represented in our logo and why our bottle is orange-shaped.

A one-of-a-kind liqueur
When speaking of an official Curacao Liqueur, the liqueur has to be made with the dried peels of the unique Laraha orange. To this day, Senior & Co. is the only brand in the world that uses the dried peels of the unique Laraha orange to produce a Curaçao Liqueur.

For a Curaçao Liqueur to be named “Curacao” it does not have to be distilled on our island, unlike other drinks such as Champagne or Tequila, but we are proud of our island and proud to be the only Curaçao of Curaçao.

Highlights

  • 100% Curaçao Made
  • Distilled in a Copper Still following the original recipe Since 1896
  • The only Curaçao Liqueur in the world that is made with the Laraha orange from Curaçao
  • Sizes: 750ml, 375ml, 50ml (souvenir packs)