Diego Robelo | Aquiares Estate

We’ve shared coffee from Aquiares before, and we’re glad to return.

Folk is built around discovery, but also around staying close to producers whose work keeps giving us new ways in. At Aquiares, that work is led by Diego Robelo and his team in Turrialba, Costa Rica, where coffee grows among shade trees, streams, and a large community shaped by the farm around it.

Aquiares is one of Costa Rica’s largest coffee estates, but scale is not the most interesting thing about it. What matters is how deliberately the farm is run. In a lower-elevation region than many specialty farms, Diego and his team rely on careful variety selection, ripe picking, and controlled processing to bring out sweetness and structure.

This honey-processed lot is a good example. After the cherry skin is removed, some of the sticky mucilage is left on the seed as it dries. That remaining fruit layer can add body and sweetness, but only if the drying is closely managed.

Here, the process gives the cup more body without weighing it down. It’s bright and fruit-forward, but there’s softness underneath too: the kind of sweetness that feels closer to pastry and clear sugar than jam.

The story doesn't end here. Explore more in our Learning Hub:

Costa Rica: Where precision meets play

Washed, natural, or honey? The three coffee processing methods compared