05/29/2024
NEW HIGHLAND OFFERING
Dive into our newest Highland Collection from Costa Rica. Notes of red wine and a syrupy body, this anaerobic process coffee has a beautiful plum finish.
COSTA RICA AQUIARES ESTATE
[KOH-STUH • REE-KUH • UH-KWEE-AR-ES • ES-TATE]
Process: Anaerobic Natural
Red wine, Plum, Gummy Bears
The name Aquiares means “land between rivers” in the Huetar indigenous language, and Aquiares Estate is commonly referred to as “Aquiares Coffee and Community.” It is the largest farm in Costa Rica and home to 1,800 people. Although the farm was founded in 1890, Alfonso Robelo is the man responsible for its transformation a century later. Alfonso arrived in Costa Rica in the 1980’s seeking refuge from the civil war in Nicaragua, where he was politically active. When politics soured into violence, he fled the country to keep his family and himself safe after receiving several threats against his life. Once in Costa Rica, Alfonso began building the Aquiares community on the enchanting slopes of the Turrialba volcano, a lush area of forests, rivers, fauna, and bright flora.
The Centroamericano variety was especially selected for Anaerobic Natural processing because of its high mucilage content. The cherries are floated and washed with fresh water but not depulped. Afterwards, the coffee cherries are placed in a stainless steel tank with a one-way air valve. In the tank the coffee starts to ferment with the natural microorganisms and yeast present on the coffee cherries. The fermentation pushes out all the oxygen and after one or two hours an anaerobic environment is created within the tank. This fermentation continues for a total time of 24 hours. After fermenting, the cherries are washed again with fresh water and dried in the solar dryer. For two days they are first placed on a ceramic patio and then finish drying on layered beds within the solar dryer.