Marilec Coffee Java Pulped Natural

Marilec Sevilla's family originally farmed grains in La Calera, Palacaguina Municipality, Madriz Department, Nicaragua. At eight, she explored coffee mills with her mother, later sorting coffee part-time during high school to cover expenses.

In 2000, PRODECOOP arrived in her town, with her father and herself joining as a security guard and sorter, respectively. During this period, she met Eduardo Videa, her first mentor and PRODECOOP's manager and taster, igniting her passion for coffee.

In 2003, she began work as a Quality Control Assistant at VOLCAFIC in Nicaragua. In 2004, she moved to Chiapas, Mexico, serving as QC Manager at COMPRAS S.A. for six years, collaborating with seven small producer organizations in organic and fair trade coffee.

In 2010, she returned to Nicaragua, working for Peraltacoffees S.A as QC Manager and Certification Lead.

In 2019, Marelic established her company, Marelic Coffee, dedicated to sourcing high-quality coffee from small unionized and individual producers across Nicaragua. Her mission is to foster professional, long-term relationships in the market, ensuring quality products and fair prices to enhance the livelihoods of coffee producers.

Alongside her role at Marelic Coffee, Marelic, along with her husband Alex, a fellow cupper, owns two coffee plots in Los Planes Dipilto N.S. They also operate a cupping lab and a small office to engage with clients and producers.

Since the beginning of the harvest, the plantation's performance is monitored. This includes tracking flowering incidents to estimate and plan production costs for the cycle. Additionally, various climate-related issues are continuously monitored, which could lead to disease-related problems either directly or indirectly due to climate change.

Before the harvesting activities commence, a briefing or training session is conducted for the individuals responsible for this task. The goal is to raise awareness so that when harvesting, the process is as uniform as possible, focusing on harvesting only cherries in optimal conditions.

The Brix degrees recorded for this process ranged between 22 and 23 degrees Brix. After the siphoning process, the cherries were left to rest for 24 hours on screens at the farm, still in their cherry state. They were then dry-pulped, meaning no water was used. This was done to preserve the sugars in the mucilage, allowing for a slow and uniform absorption by the beans.

Once at the dry mill, the coffee was spread on raised beds under shade for 17 days. An important detail is that during the first three days of this process, the coffee remains undisturbed. Afterward, it needs to be regularly turned or moved between 5 and 6 times a day until the end of the drying process. These processing methods have been refined over the past 5 years, with improved results each year.

Sustainable Harvest® is a specialty coffee trader focusing primarily on bringing coffees to market that are sourced from smallholder farmer cooperatives in the supply chain such as indigenous communities, women groups and the next generation of coffee farmers.

Their sourcing model is built on transparency, traceability and direct relationships between quality-minded coff­ee roasters and best-in-class coffee producers. Sustainable Harvest® has an on-site presence at origin with staff­ in Mexico, Colombia, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Peru. Each office coordinates their supply including quality management, supplier relationships, source development, logistics, training and capacity building.