COSTA RICA - Aquiares
Pricing & Formats
| Format | Price | /250g |
|---|---|---|
| 200g | £7.60 | £9.50 |
| 500g | £19.00 | £9.50 |
| 1kg Best | £36.00 | £9.00 |
About this Product
The Flavour Profile
There are coffees that taste good, and then there are coffees that tell a story. This Costa Rica Aquiares Estate Entre Rios Natural is firmly in the second camp. A medium roast single origin from one of Costa Rica's most storied farms, it opens with a wave of ripe wine and raspberry jam before settling into a long, sweet caramel finish. The natural process coaxes out every drop of fruit-forward sweetness, creating a cup that feels as indulgent as it is complex.
The body is smooth and rounded — medium in weight but generous in presence. It coats the palate gently, with a silky texture that carries those fruity notes beautifully from first sip to last.
Drinking it black? This is where the Entre Rios really shines. Brewed black, the wine and raspberry jam notes are vivid and expressive — almost juicy — with the caramel rounding everything off into a deeply satisfying finish. It's exceptional as a pour over, V60, or Aeropress, where the filter lets the complexity breathe.
Drinking it with milk? Add milk and the wine notes soften into something closer to a jammy berry sweetness, while the caramel becomes richer and more pronounced. It makes a beautifully indulgent flat white or latte — the kind of coffee that makes Monday mornings feel like a treat.
Whether you brew it through a filter, in a cafetière, or as an espresso, this is a coffee that rewards curiosity. Freshly roasted to order by Nick in our roastery, just outside Canterbury, it arrives at its very best — never sitting on a shelf, always at peak flavour. Available ground to your preferred method or as whole beans. Order in larger quantities and save with our Buy More Save More page, or lock in the best price with a subscription.
The Little Details
The Entre Rios Natural comes from Aquiares Estate, owned by the Robelo family and nestled in the Turrialba region of Costa Rica at 1,100 to 1,400 metres above sea level. The estate covers 924 hectares, with 623 hectares under coffee — making it the largest continuous coffee farm in Costa Rica. The blend of Marsellesa and Obatá varietals, both originating from Timor Hybrid and Villa Sarchi parentage, produces a cup of remarkable character. Naturally processed, shade-grown, and Rainforest Alliance certified, this is a coffee grown with as much care for the land as for the cup.
About the Process
At Aquiares, every cherry is picked by hand — no exceptions. Microlots like this Entre Rios are harvested by a dedicated team of skilled pickers, paid well above the daily rate for their expertise in selecting only fully ripe red cherries. Each tree is visited up to seven times during the harvest season to ensure nothing is picked before its moment. The pickers come from the local community of Aquiares, from nearby towns, and even from Nicaragua and Panama — and many return year after year.
As soon as cherries arrive from the field on the day they are picked, they move straight into Aquiares' wet mill. The natural lot is first floated for density — all floaters are removed — then immediately transferred to the farm's solar dryer patios, housed in large greenhouses with ceramic floors, for two to three days of pre-drying.
From the pre-drying patios, the cherries move to raised beds, also inside the covered greenhouse, where they dry slowly and evenly for around ten days. To manage the humid Turrialba climate — a challenge for producing naturals — the Robelos installed an airflow system connected to their Guardiola dryer, circulating dry air at around 36 degrees Celsius throughout the greenhouse. This innovation keeps temperature consistent and reduces variability across the lot. Finally, the beans spend one day in the mechanical Guardiola dryer to complete the process.
The result of all this care — the handpicking, the floating, the controlled greenhouse drying, the constant attention — is a coffee of rare complexity and sweetness. From the Robelo family's hillside to your cup, every step has been taken with intention.
