Costa Rica Roble Negro Gesha

Roble Negro is owned by Jorge Vasquez and his niece and nephew Dani and Alex. To them, coffee trees help support their core focus of preserving the rainforest, not the other way around. We love this focus on conservation at Roble Negro – our team member Will even had the chance to see it firsthand recently. It doesn't hurt that their coffees are also delicious! This one has warm and grounding notes of milk chocolate, hazelnut, and orange. Roble Negro coffee is processed at Jorge Vasquéz’s micromill. The mill and his coffee farm, Finca Cedral Alto, are located in the town of Aserrí in Costa Rica’s Tarrazú region, about 45 minutes outside the capital of San José. The name Roble Negro means “black oak” and Cedral Alto means “high cedar grove”. These names indicate the importance of environmental preservation to Jorge and his coffee production team. The farm is filled with natural springs and freshwater sources, which the forested areas protect and keep clean, and is situated at the transition between the Pacific side of the country and the Central Valley region, spanning 1750-2000 meters above sea level. Jorge grew up playing football with his cousins on the farms around Aserrí where their parents worked picking coffee. He graduated from college with a degree in accounting and worked for Costa Rica’s Banco Nacional for 21 years, serving as branch manager for his last 11 years there. Jorge now owns a recycling company, Compañía de Reciclaje Ecológico, which he founded in response to the country’s pollution levels. The recycling company is an extension of his belief in taking care of the natural world around him. Compañía de Reciclaje Ecológico has 14 employees, creates another 20 indirect jobs, and annually processes 2,000 tonnes of materials like cardboard, paper, wood, plastics, metals, and more. Jorge bought Finca El Cedral in 2007 from Don Fernando Monge. One of Jorge’s first concerns for El Cedral Alto was to protect the six water sources on the property. The waterways form the beginning of the Rio Jorco River and serve as drinking water aquifers for the nearby towns of Cedral Abajo, Vuelta de Jorco, and Acosta, as well as acting as irrigation sources for surrounding farms. The farm is dotted with stunning waterfalls thanks to these water sources — a reminder of the importance and power of fresh water to people, flora, fauna, and agriculture. Cedral Alto also contains fruit trees planted between the coffee plants (orange, peach, sweet lemon, plantain, soursop, and avocado), which provide for both people and animals. The farm cultivates Red and Yellow Catuai and has a nursery of Criollo seedlings collected from trees that survived from more than 50 years ago when that was the primary cultivated variety. New seedlings are planted at the beginning of the rainy season and require extensive care for about a year as their root systems form and they develop foliage for the transition from the nursery to the open field. In line with Jorge’s commitment to sustainability, Roble Negro removes all weeds by hand and is completely chemical-free. They use microorganisms harvested from the humus layer of the forest floor to create non-toxic applications to control insects and natural diseases like leaf rust and to facilitate nutrient absorption. Jorge’s Roble Negro micromill is known for its high-quality standards and thoughtful sustainability practices. Operations at the mill aim to reduce the use of non-renewable resources like water and electricity, repurpose waste products into natural fertilizers, and even ensure that the GrainPro used for packing and shipping coffee is reused or recycled by the mill’s global partners. Elevation: 1874 MASLVarietal: CatuaiCup score: 84Price paid per kg: £10.57Process: Washed

A washed Costa Rican coffee from Aquiares Estate on the slopes of Turrialba Volcano. Chocolate, hazelnut, and ripe plum notes make it consistent, sweet, and easy to enjoy.

Another fantastic lot from our friends at Aquiares, Centroamericano Red Honey combines fruity sweetness with a slightly more traditional profile. Costa Rican coffees (and Central American coffees in general) can represent a lot of problematic things about the coffee supply chain: For example, many farms in Central America are owned by wealthy Westerners who have access to capital and marketing that allows them to sell their coffees at prices that indigenous people could never achieve. This coffee is different, and it represents the sort of de-colonisation of the coffee supply chain that we want to support. Aquiares is a Costa Rican legacy farm, and they've set an absolute gold standard in how they treat people and the planet. The way they increase biodiversity, capture carbon, and care for both Costa Rican and migrant workers is a testament to how coffee CAN change people's lives. In fact, Diego Robelo is more like a town mayor than a coffee farmer, and our colleague Will recently visited to write about this expansive community. Aquiares also produces delicious, consistent coffees like this one with sweetly comforting notes of toffee apple, mandarin, and honey. It's the fruitiest of our 'brown' coffees whilst still having a classic, grounded profile ... perfect for sipping as you contemplate cosier days ahead. We've bought coffee from Aquiares since our first year at Skylark, but we are delighted to partner with them more fully for the first time in 2025 as well as for the foreseeable future. We plan to have their coffee on offer year-round as a staple to support the amazing work they do. Check out more of their story by reading below: Aquiares, one of Costa Rica’s largest and most historic coffee farms, sits high on the fertile slopes of Turrialba volcano. Producing coffee continuously for over a century, the farm has developed an enduring model for growing high-quality Arabica coffee, protecting a stunning natural setting, and supporting a thriving local community of 1,800 people. Established by British farmers in 1890, Aquiares was one of the first estates to produce and export Costa Rican coffee. In 1971, the farm was purchased by its current owners, three families who have worked together with the farm's staff and community to implement a modern model of sustainable agriculture. Don Alfonso took over farm management in 1992, and at the time he was new(ish) to coffee. However, one thread throughout his life has been a commitment to social justice. From the beginning, Don Alfonso made the social welfare of farm workers and the wider community one of his main priorities. His dedication has transformed the farm and the region. The community of Aquiares, originally created to house workers on the estate, sits in the midst of the farm. When it was built, the farm owned the houses where employees lived, creating home insecurity amongst working families. In 1992, under Don Alfonso’s management, the farm started a project to enable people to own their own houses. Each worker received a bonus for his or her years of service, housing plots were priced at a fraction of the local rate, and workers received assistance to apply for the government house fund. In the beginning, this seemed too good to be true, but as the first families obtained their own homes everyone else followed suit. In a matter of three years, the town was brought to life, enriched by security and achievement. Today, only around 15% of Aquiares residents work on the farm (many have gone on to become schoolteachers, doctors, etc.) and 96% of these own their own home, giving them options for the future that they themselves can choose. All Aquiares coffee is picked by hand to ensure consistent high quality. Microlots such as this one are picked by a special team of expert harvesters who are paid well above the daily rate for their exceptional skills. Each tree is visited up to seven times during the harvest to ensure that only fully red ripe cherries are picked. The pickers represent the farm’s most valuable asset. They hail from the community of Aquiares, nearby towns, and even from the neighbouring country of Nicaragua. The farm ensures that all workers have a safe work environment and a comfortable place to live. Workers coming from further away can live in on-site housing and use a children’s daycare. The farm sponsors doctors’ visits for pickers and their families twice a week where nutritional health advice is also given. To take better care of its field workers, Aquiares has established first-of-its-kind physical therapy sessions and also a daily warm-up routine of exercise before work. Many pickers return each year, confirming the success of the model. 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 forests, planting along the contour lines, implementing integrated pest management systems, and many other steps, Aquiares has demonstrated how to make ecological ideals a reality. For example, since 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 by Central American standards, the farm aims to tend to every individual coffee plant’s needs. Therefore, Aquiares utilizes a system of pruning each plant on its own, instead of pruning by row or by lot. Through an intensive rehabilitation program, Aquiares has 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. 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 meticulously tracked through each harvest season. This certification demonstrates that the farm’s low emissions do not meaningfully contribute to climate change. You can read more about life at Aquiares right here.Elevation: 1200 Meters Above Sea Level Varietal: Centroamericano Cup score: 86 Price paid per kg: £10.73 Process: Honey

Costa Rican coffees (and Central American coffees in general) can represent a lot of problematic things about the coffee supply chain: For example, many farms in Central America are owned by wealthy Westerners who have access to capital and marketing that allows them to sell their coffees at prices that indigenous people could never achieve. This coffee is different, and it represents the sort of de-colonisation of the coffee supply chain that we want to support. Aquiares is a Costa Rican legacy farm, and they've set an absolute gold standard in how they treat people and the planet. The way they increase biodiversity, capture carbon, and care for both Costa Rican and migrant workers is a testament to how coffee CAN change people's lives. In fact, Diego Robelo is more like a town mayor than a coffee farmer, and our colleague Will recently visited to write about this expansive community. Aquiares also produces delicious, consistent coffees. This one is exquisitely vibrant and juicy — an Esperanza varietal that's been anaerobically processed to create sweet, boozy notes of tropical fruits and golden rum. It's basically sunshine in a cup, so we recommend grabbing a bag or two if you'd like to infuse some joy into the shortening days ahead. We've bought coffee from Aquiares since our first year at Skylark, but we've been delighted to partner with them more fully since 2025 and plan to continue for the foreseeable future. We plan to have at least one of their coffees on offer year-round to support the amazing work they do. Check out more of their story by reading below: Aquiares, one of Costa Rica’s largest and most historic coffee farms, sits high on the fertile slopes of Turrialba volcano. Producing coffee continuously for over a century, the farm has developed an enduring model for growing high-quality Arabica coffee, protecting a stunning natural setting, and supporting a thriving local community of 1,800 people. Established by British farmers in 1890, Aquiares was one of the first estates to produce and export Costa Rican coffee. In 1971, the farm was purchased by its current owners, three families who have worked together with the farm's staff and community to implement a modern model of sustainable agriculture. Don Alfonso took over farm management in 1992, and at the time he was new(ish) to coffee. However, one thread throughout his life has been a commitment to social justice. From the beginning, Don Alfonso made the social welfare of farm workers and the wider community one of his main priorities. His dedication has transformed the farm and the region. The community of Aquiares, originally created to house workers on the estate, sits in the midst of the farm. When it was built, the farm owned the houses where employees lived, creating home insecurity amongst working families. In 1992, under Don Alfonso’s management, the farm started a project to enable people to own their own houses. Each worker received a bonus for his or her years of service, housing plots were priced at a fraction of the local rate, and workers received assistance to apply for the government house fund. In the beginning, this seemed too good to be true, but as the first families obtained their own homes everyone else followed suit. In a matter of three years, the town was brought to life, enriched by security and achievement. Today, only around 15% of Aquiares residents work on the farm (many have gone on to become schoolteachers, doctors, etc.) and 96% of these own their own home, giving them options for the future that they themselves can choose. All Aquiares coffee is picked by hand to ensure consistent high quality. Microlots such as this one are picked by a special team of expert harvesters who are paid well above the daily rate for their exceptional skills. Each tree is visited up to seven times during the harvest to ensure that only fully red ripe cherries are picked. The pickers represent the farm’s most valuable asset. They hail from the community of Aquiares, nearby towns, and even from the neighbouring country of Nicaragua. The farm ensures that all workers have a safe work environment and a comfortable place to live. Workers coming from further away can live in on-site housing and use a children’s daycare. The farm sponsors doctors’ visits for pickers and their families twice a week where nutritional health advice is also given. To take better care of its field workers, Aquiares has established first-of-its-kind physical therapy sessions and also a daily warm-up routine of exercise before work. Many pickers return each year, confirming the success of the model. 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 forests, planting along the contour lines, implementing integrated pest management systems, and many other steps, Aquiares has demonstrated how to make ecological ideals a reality. For example, since 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 by Central American standards, the farm aims to tend to every individual coffee plant’s needs. Therefore, Aquiares utilizes a system of pruning each plant on its own, instead of pruning by row or by lot. Through an intensive rehabilitation program, Aquiares has 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. 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 meticulously tracked through each harvest season. This certification demonstrates that the farm’s low emissions do not meaningfully contribute to climate change. You can read more about life at Aquiares right here.Elevation: 1200 Meters Above Sea Level Varietal: Esperanza Cup score: 87 Price paid per kg: £16.24 Process: Anaerobic natural