Situated in Central America and often referred to as the land of lakes and volcanoes, Nicaragua stands out as a haven for high-quality coffee due to its fertile soils and diverse microclimates.
Political unrest and civil war left these coffee farms abandoned and with Hurricane Mitch in 1998, majority of the coffee infrastructure was destroyed. Cooperatives like CAFENICA (The Nicaraguan Association of Smallholder Coffee Cooperatives) were created to help build the vital coffee industry, from earning land for production to education on post-harvest processing methods.
8% of Nicaragua’s exports today are from coffee production, which supports almost 45,000 families. Small plots of land are used for coffee while the rest are used for other cash crops like corn and beans. Nicaraguan coffee grows under the shade of native and exotic trees, allowing the harmony with the surrounding ecosystems to remain undisturbed.
During the harvest, the cherries are carefully handpicked and are moved to the farm’s wet mill. Floaters and low-quality cherries are then removed from the tank. A machine is used to remove the external fruit and the cherries are fermented for 12 hours to breakdown the remaining mucilage.
After the coffee is washed in a channel with clean water, they are spread over patios to dry for about 10 days. The coffee is then transported to the Sajonia dry mill to finish drying and prepared for export.
The end result is a cup of coffee that when hot, has notes of red plum and grapefruit with hints of candied orange and black tea, that melts into a red apple-like acidity accompanied by an orange sweetness and syrupy mouthfeel. It shifts to a prominent currant acidity and a lingering sweetness when cooled.
Recommended to rest beans for 7-10 days from roast date before consuming.
