The floral notes of the Typica varietal are clearly showcased by the washed process.

A floral & balanced Coffee

Washed Typica

Most Arabica varietals grown across the world are descended from the same small set of varietals taken out of Ethiopia and cultivated in Yemen in the 1600’s. This creates somewhat of a genetic ‘bottleneck’ for coffee, coming from incredibly diverse within Ethiopia, to almost 98% of coffee production in Latin America comprising of plants descended from just two varieties, Bourbon and Typica. These were the first ever cultivated coffee varietals, isolated from wild growing coffee in Ethiopia, and slowly used to populate the coffee growing lands of Yemen, India, and then the New World as it was colonised by Europeans.

Typica took a slightly protracted route, being introduced to India in the famous story of Baba Budan, and from there being cultivated in Indonesia for a time. From this stock in Indonesia, a single plant was taken by Dutch settlers back to Amsterdam, and it is from this single tree that all modern Typica was introduced to Latin America.

Typica is known for delicate and floral cups, harking back to its Ethiopian heirloom heritage. This washed lot showcases those characteristics very clearly, with clear white florals backed up by the intense brown sugar sweetness and rich nutty finish we find in many Costa Rican coffees.

Rare L-9 varietal, a dwarf mutation of Bourbon,

A fruity & wild coffee

SCM L-9

L-9 is a varietal closely related to Bourbon, having been selected as a natural mutation of Bourbon on a farm in the Tarrazu region of Costa Rica. The L-9 strain is smaller than a normal Bourbon, making the plant easier to manage, and able to be planted closer together than traditional Bourbon trees, so yields for a given hectare of land can be higher.

This lot was processed using a Carbonic Maceration method, where whole cherries are sealed inside a plastic container and fermented for 5 days, before drying on raised beds for 3 weeks, still in cherry. The Carbonic Maceration process has been used in the wine industry for several decades, particularly in the Beaujolais region, producing fruit-driven, juicy structured wines in a very controlled manner.

An anaerobic environment during fermentation favours a very different set of fermenting bacteria and yeast, leading to a dominant lacto-fermentation, reducing alcoholic fermentation and therefore also acetic acid fermentation. The pressure also forces coffee juices into the seed itself, adding more fermentable sugars to continue the process. The extra sugars and the lack of acetic acid production allows a longer fermentation without the addition of fermentation induced-defects, adding layers of complexity and a unique expression to the final cup.

Here, the sweet and round character of the Bourbon complements the sugary and nutty terroir notes, while the process adds wild ripe fruit character, with notes of fresh strawberry.

Rare Ethiopia-47 varietal, isolated from Ethiopian heirloom stock

A floral & rich coffee

Honey ET-47

This is the second time we have been able to purchase a lot from the Aguileras’ small plot of Ethiopia 47, planted on their Toño farm. This is one of two varietals that our export partners at Exclusive Coffees are aware of being grown in Costa Rica, the other being ‘Ethiopia 41’. The exact story of how the varietals came to Costa Rica is not known, but they have been classified by Costa Rican research institutes as isolated Ethiopian heirloom varietals and are available to farmers from seed banks.

This lot has been processed using a honey process, leaving a large amount of mucilage on the seeds as they dry, enhancing the sweetness and body of the final cup. Here, the terroir characteristics of brown sugar and hazelnut are again present, enhanced by the process, but varietal shines through, giving a fresh and herbal edge to the cup, almost eucalyptus-like.

About the producers

Hermanos Aguilera

The Aguileras are a group of 12 siblings, 8 brothers and 4 sisters, who are all involved in the production of coffee on the family’s 60 hectares of farms. Their story in coffee began around 80 years ago, when their father Edgar planted his first small plot of coffee plants. Many of Edgar’s neighbours were sceptical over his decision, telling him that they had never seen coffee grow in the region. Nowadays of course, the micro-mill revolution has taken hold in Costa Rica, and growing and producing coffee in the West Valley is seen as a rather sensible decision; many of the doubtful neighbours have even taken up coffee production themselves.

Coffee production is family affair for the Aguileras, most of the work done on the farms is undertaken by the siblings and their children, the third generation of coffee producers. In fact, the family is so large that they only require help from pickers at harvest time, during the rest of the year they tend to their plants themselves. As one of the largest and most established producers in the region, the Aguileras take their responsibility to their local community seriously, taking part in many projects such as building a football pitch for local clubs and children to use.

West Valley

Hermanos

Edgar’s children refer to themselves as ‘Los Hermanos Aguilera’; in Spanish ‘hermanos’ is used for a mixed gender group of siblings, although it translates literally to ‘brothers’ in English. The Aguileras were one of the major players in the micro-mill revolution in the West Valley, having built their mill in 2008, using the profits from their 4th place in the 2007 Cup of Excellence. The mill processes coffee from all of the family farms, spread across the area around the town of Los Robles de Naranjo. This early move to processing their own coffee means that brothers Erasmo and Felipe, who oversee much of the work in the mill, have become experts in processing, both in their mastery of traditional methods and through their experimentation in process and varietal.

There are more than 15 different varietals to choose from across the different micro-terroirs provided by different plots, giving Erasmo and Felipe a huge variety of raw material with which to experiment with processing. With this pack we intend to showcase three examples of this work, a coming together of knowledgable farming, exotic varietals, and a region with ideal coffee producing conditions.