Costa Rica Rios Honey كوستاريكا ريوس عسلية

Farm: Aquiares Estate

Varietal: Arara

Processing: Red Honey

Altitude: 1,200 to 1,400 meters above sea level

Owner: Robelo Family

Town / City: Aquiares

Region: Turrialba

Country: Costa Rica

Story Behind The Coffee

Entre Rios, translating as “Between Rivers”, is a delicate and versatile coffee which mixes two varieties from the same parentage to create a singular cup. These varieties are Catuá and Obatá. 

This coffee is part of Aquiares' Rare Nano-Lots programme, showcasing tiny, exceptional harvests from single trees and new plantings located in the highest areas of the estate. Produced exclusively from Arara, a Brazilian variety developed from a natural cross of Sarchimor 1669-20 and released by Fundação Procafé, the lot highlights one of Aquiares' most promising recent plantings. Compact, highly productive and naturally resistant to coffee leaf rust, Arara has adapted exceptionally well to the estate's volcanic soils and cool mountain climate. Like all Aquiares coffees, it benefits from meticulous plant-by-plant management, ongoing varietal research and complete traceability from nursery to export.

Environmental Stewardship

Aquiares is strongly committed to and has become an international leader in, environmental sustainability. The farm has long seen the connection between agricultural, environmental and social health. By planting more than 50,000 shade trees, creating natural buffers around streams and water springs, preserving the river valleys as forest, planting along the contour, implementing integrated pest management systems and many other steps, Aquiares has demonstrated how to make ecological ideals a reality. For example, given that soil health is the most important factor for a successful farm, Aquiares takes many steps to naturally improve the farm’s volcanic soil. The organic matter from pruning and the leaf litter from the coffee and shade trees are left to feed soil microbes and provide organic nutrients. The diversified shade trees (over 40 species) also cool the ground, slowing the ripening of the coffee, which allows for sugars from the mucilage to be fully absorbed by the bean, thus improving cup quality. The farm’s agricultural objective is to find synergies like these, where environmental health translates into coffee plant health, which ultimately contributes to long-term stability in the production of high-quality coffee. The farm’s terrain varies from gently sloping to steep hills. Valleys between hills create microclimates that are ideal for growing mainly Caturra and grafted Arabica-Nemaya varieties. Although Aquiares is considered large under Central American standards, the farm believes that it is crucial to tend to every individual coffee plant’s needs. Therefore, Aquiares utilizes a system of pruning each plant independently, instead of pruning by row or lot.

Through an intensive rehabilitation program, Aquiareshas re-planted more than 400,000 coffee trees in small patches of existing fields. This rejuvenated the crop of trees and increased the land’s utilization. It also played a crucial role in the 2012 rust attack, as young plants resisted the disease better, slowing its spread. Its stringent environmental stewardship enabled the farm to achieve Rainforest Alliance Certification in 2003. In 2012, Aquiares became the first farm in Costa Rica to fulfill the requirements of the Rainforest Alliance Climate Module. This requires adhering to careful standards of greenhouse gas emissions and energy use, which are carefully tracked through each harvest season. This certification demonstrates that the farm’s low emissions do not meaningfully contribute to climate change. Aquiares has been home to research studies for decades, starting with early sociological studies in the 1950s. More recently, numerous scientific studies are conducted at Aquiares. In 2007, the farm was among the very first to try to calculate its carbon balance. Today, Aquiares is the main test plot for an ongoing project between the CIRAD Institute of France and CATIE University of Costa Rica. The “Carbon-Flux project”measures greenhouse gas exchange between the farm plot and the atmosphere over long-time horizons. This research station is the only one of its kind in the world, capable of accurately measuring the emission-sequestration balance of a hectare of shaded coffee. With this tool, the researchers are trying to develop a model that can be used by any coffee farmer in the world to estimate the carbon sequestration potential of his farm. This project is part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change research efforts. Also, since 2013 Aquiares has set up a program for Cornell University undergraduate and graduate students to find practical fieldwork experience at the farm. In this short time, the interns have already helped shape the farm's agricultural strategy and community relations. For example, one intern studied the community, and by interviewing town residents found increasing levels of type 2 diabetes as a result of an unhealthy diet. Following that research, another intern planned and developed a community organic vegetable garden; the farm donated land and women from the community-run the garden as a small business of their own.