Aquiares Esperanza- Costa Rica - Filter - Anaerobic Natural Coffee

TASTE NOTES
Almond, Blackberry Jam, Cola

VARIETAL
F1 Esperanza

PROCESS
Anaerobic Natural

ALTITUDE
1200 masl

Diego Robelo has built a second wet mill at Aquiares, one specifically for the processing of experimental lots like this. We had a look around it when we visited and it was full of interesting processes that we’d never heard of, some that would make it to export and some that would not pass rigorous quality control. The beauty of farms like Diego’s that have that kind of scale is they have room to experiment and make mistakes. Over the last few years Aquiares has built a reputation for producing amazing naturals and anaerobic naturals. This coffee was one of our favourite anaerobics on the cupping table for both its unique flavour profile and varietal. The Esperanza varietal is a hybrid of a Sarchimor and a wild Ethiopia variety that is currently only grown on a handful of farms. The climate in Turrialba is very well suited to growing this new high yielding and leaf rust-resistant variety.

The process began with floating cherries for sorting, washing them in fresh water and then the anaerobic fermentation took place in a stainless steel tank with a one-way valve. A Mossto (a juice from previous fermentations) is added to the tank to add additional yeast and bacteria and kickstart the fermentation. The fermentation process continues for 24 hours before the cherries are removed and washed in fresh water. Finally the cherries are dried, first for two days on a ceramic patio and then the drying is finished within a solar dryer.