The Arbar mill sits in Costa Rica's West Valley, near Lourdes de Naranjo, 1,600 metres above sea level. It's owned by Carlos Arrieta and Maria Barboza, and the name is exactly what it looks like: Ar from Arrieta, bar from Barboza. When they inherited the farm, it wasn't making them much money. Almost all Costa Rican coffee at the time went to large cooperatives for processing. You could buy a regional lot, say a Tarrazú, but individual growers had little reason to chase quality. Their coffee was going to be batched with everyone else's regardless.
Then came the 2010s and Costa Rica's micromill revolution. Producers realised that building their own mills meant processing their own coffee and finally getting credit for the work. Carlos and Maria watched their neighbours try it and figured they'd give it a go too.
Their road turned out to be a good one to be on. It's lined with Cup of Excellence names: Vista Al Valle, owned by Carlos's cousin Oldemar. Herbazu, owned by his neighbour Tonio. Further along, Sumava, owned by Francisco Mena, who happens to be our exporter and a Cup of Excellence winner himself. We buy from all three, on repeat.
We found Arbar's coffee early, on Francisco's word. He asked if we liked it. We said yes. He said great, here are the producers, and that was that. The first year we bought it, it didn't even have a name yet, it was just Carlos Arrieta's coffee. The following year, Arbar.
Roland first visited in 2015, the year he sat on the Costa Rica Cup of Excellence jury. He didn't speak Spanish then. Carlos and Maria don't speak English. His guide for the day, Wayner from Exclusive Coffees, didn't speak much English either. None of that mattered. Before Roland had even been properly introduced, Carlos pulled him into a hug and told him, "Welcome. You're one of us, this is your home now." He was walked round the farms, given the seat at the head of the dinner table, and taught the phrase that matters more than any other in Costa Rica: Pura Vida. Pure life. How are you? Pura Vida. Bad day? Pura Vida. It covers everything, and it says a lot about the place.
We've bought from Arbar since 2013, and the farm has grown the way good things tend to, steadily. Villa Sarchi came first, then Caturra, Catuai, Geisha and Kenya varietals, and now some Ethiopian Landrace and a few experimental plantings besides. What started as two farms, Manantial and Oasis, is now four. La Isla belongs to Maria's niece. Pedro was bought after its previous owner passed away, and named for him.
Roland's favourite part of that growth has a name too: Esteban, the eldest of Carlos and Maria's four children. When Roland first met him, he was working in cattle, which isn't unusual. Coffee farming often doesn't pay enough to keep the next generation in it. But Esteban went on to work at the neighbouring Sumava mill, did well there, then moved into exporting. Today he works for Exclusive, the same exporter who first introduced us to his parents' coffee, and he's bought land of his own right next to Oasis. It's the clearest evidence we have that paying producers properly changes what's possible for the people who come after them.
We took every bean Arbar produced in those early years. They're far more efficient now and grow a much bigger crop, so we no longer buy all of it, but we still take a significant share. Maria and Carlos have branched into coffee tourism, keep goats, chickens and fish, and run about as self-sufficient a farm as you'll find.
On a recent trip, Paul, our Head Roaster in New Zealand, and Roland ended up at the local rodeo, a proper fixture in that farming community. No photos of Roland falling off anything survive, which is probably for the best. On the same trip, sharing coffee outside the house, the local firefighters dropped by to buy a bag from Maria, who roasts her own coffee in a small setup behind the family home. They stood around while she roasted, had a coffee and a chat, then went back to work.
It's a small thing, but it says everything about Arbar. This is a family thoroughly woven into their community, and every visit reminds us why relationships like this are worth the years it takes to build them.
- Country: Costa Rica
- Region: Western Valley
- City: Lourdes de Naranjo
- Micromill: ARBAR
- Farm: El Manantial
- Producer: Carlos Arrieta & Family
- Altitude: 1,600 m.a.s.l.
- Varietal: Villa Sarchi
- Process: Honey