Farms - Caliber Coffee Roasters

Costa Rica – Aquiares

In 1890, Aquiares was founded by farmers looking to take advantage of Costa Rica´s railroad to the port of Limón. Today, now the largest coffee farm in Costa Rica, Aquiares devotes 80% of its land to growing outstanding coffee, and the remaining 20% to conservation. Coffee plots are interlaced with over a dozen natural springs and almost 20 kilometers in streams—all protected with buffer zones.

These streams form a network of natural corridors through the farm that connect the large, protected forests in the two river valleys, providing a healthy environment for the local animals, birds, and plants. The farm is nestled between the Aquiares and Turrialba Rivers.

The Aquiares farm manages all aspects of coffee production, beginning with seedling production and continuing through to cultivation, bean picking and milling. Their success in managing the coffee production chain is evident by their consistently exceptional product. Quality and traceability are always guaranteed.

All their coffee is grown at a high altitude—from 820 to 1,400 meters above sea level. The terrain allows for coffee varieties to flourish in the rich volcanic soil, cool night temperature and high humidity. Aquiares’ agricultural practices work to build and maintain soil quality. The organic matter provided by shade leaf litter feeds soil microbes. In turn, decomposition provides coffee plants with organic nutrients. In addition, native trees provide shade to slow coffee ripening. A longer ripening process allows the bean to absorb more sugars and makes for a better cup quality. While large by Costa Rican standards, the farm still takes the time to prune each plant independently instead of pruning by row or lot.

To ensure consistent quality, all Aquiares coffee is picked by hand. During the harvest, each tree is visited up to seven times to ensure that only fully red ripe beans or “cherries” are picked. The farms places great value on the pickers and Aquiares invests heavily in their well being. As coffee cherries come from the field, they move into Aquiares’ own mill that same day. Drying takes place in driers fueled by wood sustainably harvested at the farm before being sorted and packaged for export.

Aquiares mainly grows the Caturra variety of coffee but is always experimenting with new varieties. To do this, the farm has developed a Varietal Garden were more than 30 promising varieties are being tested for cup quality, pest resistance and productivity.

In the past decades the farm has planted more than 50,000 shade trees, creating natural buffers around streams and water springs. It has worked to preserve the river valleys as forest, planting along the contours of the hills.

Meticulous farming practises, investment in the community and the workers, a dedication to sustainability and the environment, and an insatiable quest for improving quality, make Aquarius a model for farm production everywhere.

Peru – PERUNOR

PERUNOR is a Peruvian company, established in 1998, dedicated to the cultivation and commercialization of specialty coffees. Their purpose is to bring to the world green coffee beans that are grown using organic farming practices, the responsible use of water, and the care of plant and animal diversity, as well as the application of techniques and materials that contribute to sustainable development while preserving the environment.

The founders of PERUNOR created a specialty coffee cultivation program whose goal was to achieve strategic alliances with cooperatives and coffee associations throughout Peru while promoting productive development and economic expansion of these regions, as well as the improvement of the quality of life of our Peruvian farmers, who have become the embodiment of the company. They can provide coffee from micro lots for small roasters or large amounts for processors and distributors throughout the world.

PERUNOR has been able to market an exquisite variety of green coffee beans with international organic certifications, thanks to advanced technologies and strategic alliances with farmers and coffee cooperatives throughout the Peruvian territory.

PERUNOR coffee is grown under forest shadow, in jungle environments which is advantageous for biodiversity, birds and the environment. PERUNOR is typified for its soil conservation methods that evolved from ecological processes. The company has various international certifications.

PERUNOR’s beans goes through rigorous cupping, or sensory evaluation, that determines properties such as aroma, acidity, flavor, body, & cup defects—with all coffee achieving cup scores greater than 83 points according to SCA.

PERUNOR coffee—from Peru to the world.

Brazil – Sete Cachoeiras (Seven Falls)

Sete Cachoeiras Estate Coffee group is dedicated to social and environmental projects. Their Health-for-All program provides support to monitor the health and well-being of employees and their families. The employees are given the support necessary to ensure their residences meet or exceed living standards for a better quality of life in rural areas. The women residing in the Sete Cachoeiras Estate are encouraged to participate in the Crafts Project whose purpose is to increase family income through the manufacture and sale of homemade jams and other crafts.

Environmentally, the coffee farm is managed with both modern and ecological technologies. The area supports native forests and reforestation programs. Fifty percent of the area is devoted to growing coffee, while twenty percent is dedicated to the farm’s operations & dwellings. With robust goals for the reforestation of the ciliary and native forest, the group has recently signed a partnership with the SOS Mata Atlântica foundation, with emphasis on the construction of ecological corridors and diversification of fauna and flora.

Guatemala – Carrizal

Guatemala is known for her high altitudes and mineral-rich soils, as well as frequent rainfall in most regions, and as many as 300 unique microclimates. Today, coffee is grown in 20 of Guatemala’s 22 departments, with around 270,000 hectares dedicated to coffee production of which 98% is shade grown. The country’s coffee production is almost exclusively Arabica and is predominantly prepared using the washed methods—although natural and various semi-washed methods are gaining in popularity with increasingly excellent results.

In 1908, Ricardo Zelaya’s great grandfather decided he was going to forge a career in the coffee industry. He accumulated several properties throughout Guatemala at that time—and these coffee farms are the same beautiful farms that exist today! Generations of his family have followed in his path. Surrounded by coffee plantations, some family members devoted their lives to the quality and production of coffee—some becoming the first coffee exporters from Guatemala.

In 1989, the fourth generation of coffee growers, Ricardo Zelaya, completed his degree in agribusiness from Zamorano Pan-American Agricultural School in Honduras, and later attended the University of Florida. Twenty-five years later, there is a strong and dedicated team under the leadership of Ricardo. They are committed and in love with coffee production, as well as the social and environmental responsibilities it entails. For example, Ricardo Zelaya is committed to helping community youth to achieve meaningful opportunities through a series of scholarship funds, including the Santa Clara Scholarship—recipients are chosen based on academic performance and financial needs. The scholarship covers 70% of their expenses including tuition, books, school supplies, and uniforms.

One example of environmentally responsible farming practices includes the farm’s mill design which allows them to recycle water, thereby minimizing need for water. Another example is the parchment is used as fuel in the mills to reduce waste and the use of wood. And still another example—pulp is transported from the wet mill into tanks filled with earthworms in order to produce lombricompost, which is then used as an organic fertilizer in the coffee fields, returning organic matter to the soil.

New Oriente coffee, one of Guatemala’s eight coffee producing regions, has been cultivated, almost exclusively, by small producers since the 1950s. Today, virtually every farm on the mountain has become a coffee-producer. Once one of the poorest and most isolated areas of Guatemala, New Oriente is now vibrant and growing. Rainy and cloudy, the region is located on the site of a former volcano. Its area is comprised of metamorphic rock, balanced in minerals, and different from soils in other volcanic regions when Arabica trees were first planted.

The coffee cherries are sorted by the pickers before transporting to the wet mill. At the mill, they are passed through a syphon to separate defective cherries, or floaters. The coffee is then transported and positioned to dry on patios for 25 to 35 days. The drying process is slow—the coffee is gently raked or turned every thirty minutes during the day.

La Finca Carrizal has a very special place in Ricardo Zelaya’s heart—it was his first-ever farm. At just 21 years old, Ricardo partnered with a family friend-of-his-father to purchase the farm, and over time they would also become good friends! Ricardo learned a great deal from his partner and vice versa. It was during these times, beginning in 1986, that Ricardo was able to experiment hands-on with everything he had learned from his studies—from agronomic practices to building his first wet mill. La Finca Carrizal still supports the nurseries that supply all his other farms. Almost eight months of rain annually, coupled with ideal soil conditions, ensure the young plants grow strong and are hardy enough to be transported to Ricardo’s other farms to be re-planted.

However, this farm’s location does have its challenges—it is in the northwestern part of Guatemala, and to get there is a six-to-nine-hour drive. Socially, the farm maintains a primary school of 97 children and includes a computer lab for the youth of the surrounding area.

Guatemala – Santa Clara

La Finca Santa Clara is in the beautiful Antigua Valley. Antigua is arguably Guatemala’s most-renowned coffee growing region—its rich volcanic soil, low humidity, abundant sunlight, and cool nights are ideal for producing extraordinary coffees. Nights can be very cold—the notably dense canopy aids in protecting the coffee plants from the region’s occasional frost. The valley around the town of Antigua (from which the region gets its name) is surrounded by three volcanoes: Agua, Fuego, and Acatenango. And every so often, Fuego—one of Guatemala’s three active volcanoes—adds a fresh dusting of mineral-rich ash to Antigua’s soil. The volcanic pumice that is blanketed on the soil helps retains moisture which offsets Antigua’s low rainfall.

Ricardo’s laugh, philosophy, and passion all play a role in Ricardo Zelaya Farm’s successes—the positive work culture and, of course, the internationally recognized coffees. Rich volcanic soils and strict shade-grown growing controls produce equisetic and aromatic coffees. The green borboncito varietal coffee is sorted by the pickers before it gets to the wet mill. At the mill, it is passed through a syphon to separate unripe or defective cherries, or floaters. After depulping, the coffee is transported in bags with all the mucilage and placed in the greenhouses to dry—around 15-20 days.

Antiguan coffees are known for their quality and can command premium prices. Consequently, controlling those coffees labelled with the Antigua name has become a concern. In the past, growers from all over the country would ship coffee cherries into the region to be processed and marketed as Antiguan coffee. Subsequently, in 2000, the Antiguan Growers Association was founded to provide full traceability and certification to coffees labelled as Genuine Antigua and to assure that these coffees are grown in the region.