COSTA RICA orange ∙ sundried apricot ∙ peanut butter
Twelve brothers and sisters, six farms, lots of Cup of Excellence awards and an own processing station.
Aguilera brothers are one of the most well-known farmers in Costa Rica.
A
guilera Bros may be by all means the most popular coffee farmers in Costa Rica. When googled, their name generates several thousand hits and year by year, more and more of their coffees appear in the offer of respected roasteries. The eight brothers and six sisters are truly dedicated and aim to grow really high quality coffees. It is admirable to follow in your parents’ footsteps and carry on growing coffee on the family farm. What is more, they have improved and developed, and now it is not only the second generation that participates in the work, but the third as well. Edgar Aguilar Bonilla, the father, who was pruning his own coffee trees 60 year ago, would have undoubtedly been happy to see his son being awarded the Cup of Excellence in 2007. Winning this prestigious competition meant a financial reward as well. With the help of this money, the family built an own processing station, which has made it possible to try and develop new processing techniques and at the same time it ensures the persistent high
quality of their coffee. Apart from Finca de Licho, they have five other farms including Edgar Chayote, Angelina and Finca de Toño. Their choice of coffee variety was a sure one: most of their farms are planted with Villa Sarchi, which is the most popular variety in the region. Villa Sarchi is a Bourbon mutation indigenous to the area, and gives an excellent and exciting flavour to the coffee. The beans were grown at an altitude of 1450 metres, processed at the family’s own washing station using the honey processing method. With this the beans were dried before removing the mucilage, which ensures a more profound taste profile with deeper fruit tones and enhanced sweetness.
Our coffees taste the best when extracted with water of the proper hardness* range. In order to highlight the best flavour of our roasts we recommend having 5 to 10 days of resting period after roasting, but consume within two weeks of opening. Enjoy!
Just one more interesting fact about Costa Rica: the country has invested heavily in improving the infrastructure and hygiene of the washing stations, which all help to improve the quality of the coffee. Part of this national program was banning the production of robusta coffees. * Total hardness: 50 –175 ppm CaCO3 (2.9–9.8 °d), ppm CaCO3 (2.2–4.2 °d), pH: 6.5-8.0.
alkalinity/buffer: 40 –75 (The SCAE Water Chart)
photo by Café Imports
FINCA TOÑO