To Maria Fiallos and her sister Valeria Fiallos-Soliman, a cup of coffee means much more than a morning pick-me-up or a chance to roll-up-the-rim and win.

For the sisters and their extended family in Nicaragua, coffee is an agricultural staple, a cultural icon and a national symbol that links three generations to their mountainous farm in the northwest part of the Central American country.

For many years, during the Nicaraguan civil war, the status of the farm was in doubt. The family fled to Canada to escape violent attacks by Sandinistas, fearful they would never return to their way of life.

However, the situation improved and in 1995, their father, Reynaldo, started going back periodically to see how the farm had fared.

In a short time, his wife Graciela joined him and together they teamed with the long-time workers at the farm to get it back into shape to produce coffee.

"The workers protected the farm during the war," says Maria, proudly.

"There was lots of work to do to start producing coffee again, but at least our family still had the farm. It had been in our family since 1935."

The green coffee bean symbolizes the struggles and successes of the sisters' family and country, and so they take it very seriously.

Both girls drank their first cup of coffee about the time they started to walk, and they've been drinking it ever since.

Eight years ago, they started a business distributing coffee grown throughout Nicaragua to micro-roasters across Canada.

The company, Aroma Nica, has flourished and supplies coffee to Hasbeans in Covent Garden Market, among others. It also supports charitable projects in their homeland, buying school supplies and uniforms for scores of children.

Last year, the sisters decided to open their own micro-roaster. With a direct connection to their family farm and some others in the region, they figured they could bring in some of the world's best coffee at a price somewhere between run-of-the-mill supplies and expensive Fair Trade coffee.

They support Fair Trade coffee programs but note there are a lot of layers that add cost to the process.

"We bring our coffee here directly," says Valeria. "We know exactly where it's coming from, we know the people who have picked the coffee cherries and sorted the beans."

Initially they wanted to name their company Coffee Chicks but wondered if that sounded too casual to be taken seriously. So they opted for the Spanish version of the phrase, Las Chicas del Cafe.

"It sounds better," Maria says, laughing.

Using a single L5 Probat Roaster, the sisters blend and roast five to 10 pounds of coffee at a time, creating custom blends for customers and delivering them within 24 hours of roasting.

They also sell directly to individuals, a growing number of whom have discovered the business.

They have named the product after their father -- Don Rey's Private Reserve. The coffee is fresh and delicious. There really is no comparison with the standard endless cup of coffee from most restaurants and cafes.

Having started in the fall, the sisters are still introducing themselves to many of their potential customers.

They pick carefully because they know many restaurants are more interested in the cost of the coffee than in its quality.

For most eateries, switching to Las Chicas will cost them more, so some are not interested.

However, when the sisters do taste comparisons, virtually everyone wants to switch. The difference is that obvious. Whether they do or not is a function of the bottom line.

"It's funny because people will pay a lot more for a really good wine," says Maria.

"You have the same considerations with coffee. The location where it's grown, when it is picked, how it is dried and roasted -- all these things add to the quality, so we have no problem asking for a premium price because we know what went into the preparation of the coffee and we know it is of the highest quality."