COSTA RICA - Aquiares Esperanza

The Flavour Profile

Lychee, raspberry and a juicy, tropical sweetness: this Costa Rica Aquiares Esperanza is a bright, joyful cup that tastes like summer fruit. Lightly roasted to keep every bit of its character, this natural process single origin is one of the most fruit-forward specialty coffees on our shelves right now.

Grown on the volcanic slopes of Turrialba at 1,200 to 1,400 metres, the cherries ripen slowly under shade trees, giving dense beans with bright, lively acidity. The variety, Esperanza, has an Ethiopian parent, and you can taste that heritage in its fruity lift. Then the natural process does its magic: the whole cherry dries around the bean, so the fruit's sugars soak in, building sweetness, juiciness and a rich, rounded body. Nick's light roast protects all of it, letting the lychee and raspberry sing instead of hiding them under roast.

Drinking it black? This is the way to enjoy it. Expect juicy lychee and raspberry up front, tropical sweetness in the middle and a clean, lingering finish. Beautiful through a V60, Chemex, AeroPress or cafetière, and a lively, fruity espresso if you like a brighter shot.

Drinking it with milk? Drinking it with milk? A splash of milk softens the brightness into something like raspberries and cream. It's lovely in a flat white or cortado, where the smaller amount of milk lets the juicy fruit shine through.

Whatever your brewing method, this Costa Rican coffee is freshly roasted to order by Nick in our roastery, just outside Canterbury, in small batches, so it never sits on a shelf. We're happy to grind it for you, just choose your grind when you order, and buy a kilo to save 10%.

The Little Details

This natural Costa Rica comes from Aquiares Estate, in the town of Aquiares in the Turrialba region, on the slopes of the Turrialba Volcano. Owned by Don Alfonso Robelo, it is one of Costa Rica's oldest and largest coffee farms, producing coffee since 1890 across 924 hectares, around 80% of them shade-grown Arabica. This lot is grown at 1,200–1,400 metres above sea level and is 100% Esperanza, an F1 hybrid bred by CIRAD, PROMECAFE and CATIE from a cross of T5296 Sarchimor and the Ethiopian variety ET25.

About the Process

At Aquiares, only the ripest cherries make it into this natural lot, averaging 97% fully ripe at harvest. After picking, the cherries are floated in water so any light or defective fruit rises and is removed, leaving only dense, healthy cherries.

Then, instead of removing the fruit, the whole cherry is left intact to dry around the seed. This is the natural process, and it is what gives this coffee its juicy sweetness. The cherries spend two days pre-drying on ceramic patios, then around ten days on raised African beds, where air flows all around them at temperatures between 28 and 45°C, so they dry slowly and evenly.

A final day of gentle drying in a Guardiola, a slow-turning drum dryer, brings the moisture to a stable level while keeping the cup clean and balanced. The dried cherry is then hulled to reveal the green bean, sorted and graded for export.

Behind every bag is a farm that has grown coffee for well over a century, with more than 50,000 shade trees and a long commitment to its local community. All that care travels from the volcano's slopes to your cup.