A sweet cup layered with notes of spiced pear, macadamia, and dark chocolate. We are excited to continue our relationship with Aquiares for the fifth year. Thanks to the help of Ally Coffee Importers, we are able to continue sourcing their coffees.  Alfonso arrived in Costa Rica in the 1980’s seeking refuge from the civil war in Nicaragua, where he was politically active. When politics turned into violence, he fled the country to keep his family and himself safe after receiving several threats against his life. Once in Costa Rica, Alfonso began building the Aquiares community on the slopes of the Turrialba volcano, a lush area of forests, rivers, fauna, and bright flora that we hope to visit soon! Aquiares focuses on carbon neutrality and measures its greenhouse gas emissions to calculate its carbon emissions against its offsets. An agent verified under the International Panel on Climate Change norms verifies these calculations and Aquiares’ carbon measurement and emissions reduction are part of Costa Rica’s Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action. In addition to capturing carbon, the farm’s protected biological corridors have long ensured the wellbeing of local animals and plants. Nowadays Alfonso’s son, Diego, manages the farm. Under his leadership, the farm has taken a fresh approach to specialty coffee and explored the farm’s potential becoming a trailblazer among specialty coffee producers in Costa Rica. We've had the pleasure of working together with Diego and Ally's green buyer in Costa Rica, Bram, to select some truly exceptional lots each year. It's a joy to be able to grow our support of them each year. Aquiares is situated in the Turialba region of Costa Rica and this Grand Peaberry lot is grown at 1,200 meters above sea level and processed using the washed method. Peaberry coffee is named for its pea-like appearance. Most coffee cherries contain two seeds, and Peaberries occur when only one seed, small and round in shape, develops in the cherry.