We're happy to have invited Schot for January's box. They delivered some stellar coffees and we can't be more excited to share them with you.
For this month we have two Costa Rican coffees from the Aquiares farm, of different variety, and produced in different ways. A great way to experience how different two coffees with the same origin can be. To complement this we have the expressive Colombian La Cristalina.
Tasty Aquiares with a croissant
AQUIARES [Washed]
Origin: Costa Rica
Process: Washed
Altitude: 1.200 masl
Producer: Diego Robelo
Varieties: Caturra
Tasting notes: Milk Chocolate, caramel & orange
The name Aquiares means “land between rivers” in the Huetar indigenous language, and Aquiares 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.
Alfredo challenged the status quo, transforming the relationship between landowner and farm workers. He brought a visionary approach to Aquiares, a farm suffering from low prices and instability. Aquiares had more than 200 employee homes on the farm, but because none owned their home, there was great insecurity in the workforce. Alfonso saw this as an opportunity to strengthen the company by having people feel pride in the coffee they produce. He evolved the farm into a small town where workers purchased their own homes. Today, Aquiares remains a model of sustainable agriculture.
Nowadays Alfonso’s son, Diego, manages the farm. Under his lead, the farm has taken a fresh approach to specialty coffee and exploring the farm’s potential. Through excellent agricultural management, embracing new varieties, and experimenting with processing, Aquiares has become a trailblazer among specialty coffee producers in Costa Rica and all of Central America.
Aquiares focuses on carbon neutrality and measures its greenhouse gas emissions to calculate its carbon emissions against its offsets. An agent verified under International Panel on Climate Change norms verifies these calculations and Aquiares’ carbon measurement and emissions reduction are part of Costa Rica’s Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action. In addition to capturing carbon, the farm’s protected biological corridors have long ensured the wellbeing of local animals and plants. Aquiares also welcomes researchers from around the world to conduct agricultural and environmental studies on their land. Projects have included investigating the benefits of agroforestry on soil health and observing the diverse bird and wildlife species that thrive in an agroecological environment.
Aquiares is an example of innovation and perseverance whose benefits extend beyond the farm and workers and serve as a model for sustainable, equitable production for the broader coffee industry.
Peaberry coffee is named for its pea-like appearance. Most coffee cherries contain two seeds and Peaberries occur when only one seed, small and round in shape, develops in the cherry. Around 5 percent of all coffee is peaberry beans, but usually these are not separated. Aquiares separated the peaberry and made this beautiful lot. This lot was mechanically washed and dried on raised beds in a solar dryer for 18 to 24 days.
AQUIARES [Natural]
Origin: Costa Rica
Process: Natural anaerobic
Altitude: 1.200 masl
Producer: Diego Robelo
Varieties: Cenrtoamericano
Tasting notes: Grapefruit, strawberry & caramel
Centroamericano H1 is an F1 hybrid variety generated by crossing the Sarchimor T-5296 and a wild Rume Sudan variety. It is reproduced through a tissue culture cloning process called somatic embryogenesis. This cultivar has been distributed among coffee producers in Central America over the last decade and the first productive harvests are now available. Turrialba’s climate is well suited to growing this new variety and Aquaires is up to the challenge of meeting its complex nutritional needs.
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 is placed in a stainless steel tank with a one-way air valve. In the tank the coffee will start to ferment with the natural microorganisms and yeast present on the coffee cherries. The fermentation will push out all the oxygen and after one or two hours the 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. First for two days they are placed on a ceramic patio and finish drying in layered beds within the solar dryer.
Unlike a lot of other anaerobics the flavours of the Aquiares Anaerobic are less intense but more layered and complex. You’ll find flavours of grapefruit, strawberry, caramel and orange.
LA CRISTALINA
Origin: Colombia
Process: Natural
Altitude: 1.450 - 1.500 masl
Producer: Maria Grajales
Varieties: Castillo
Tasting notes: Cherry, mandarin & strawberry
The La Cristalina plantation is located near Quimbaya in the Quindo department. The plantation has been owned by the Grajales for over 100 years. Maria Mercedes Grajales is now the 5th generation at the helm of La Cristalina. The total plantation is approximately 19 hectares, of which 14 hectares are planted with coffee. about 5 hectares of the plantation are planted with other trees such as orange, ‘platano’ and ‘cafatero’. The majority of the plants on the Cristalina plantation are of the Castillo variety.
The pickers are encouraged to pick the coffee at its optimal maturity. For that selective picking process La Cristalina works with the long-term pickers that get paid far more than normal. Most pickers come to this farm for 10+ years. After picking the cherries are floated intensively to remove the less dense and defected cherries. The coffee is placed on “carros corredizos” and drying tunnels with direct sun exposure for the first 48 hours. After the humidity is down to about 40% it is placed in GrainPro for 36 hours to create its fruity punch in its cup. During fermentation the temperature and PH is monitored and documented every 3 hours. After fermentation the coffee goes back to the drying beds where it is also moved every 3 hours. The total process takes around 15 days, depending on the weather.
The coffee is very fragrant and expressive, with flavours of cherry, mandarin and strawberry.
Explore Europe’s top roasters!