Aquiares Centroamericano - Costa Rica - Filter - Red Honey Coffee

TASTE NOTES
Blueberry, Cola, Apple Turnover

VARIETAL
Centroamericano

PROCESS
Red Honey

ALTITUDE
820 - 1400 masl

The Aquiares farm is a firm favourite here at Round Hill - a picturesque, lush farm at the forefront of sustainable agriculture. Spanning 600 acres on the slopes of the Turrialba volcano, the farm focuses on carbon neutrality, and regularly welcomes researchers to the farm to conduct agricultural and environmental studies. Aquiares translates from the indigenous Huetar language as ‘land between rivers’. Coffee plots are interlaced with natural springs, connecting the large protected rainforest land in the two river valleys. The farm has protected ecological corridors to preserve and encourage biodiversity.

Honey processing involves the removal of the cherry pulp and skin for the drying stage, but leaves the mucilage - a sweet, sticky coating on the coffee bean - intact. As this mucilage dries, it turns from yellow to red, and eventually black, hence the colour descriptor. The mucilage is then removed in the milling stage, but the additional contact time with the sugars present lends this processing method its distinct cup profile. This red honey has been dried on raised beds for 18-24 days.