About This Coffee
Danny Pastrana inherited Finca La Libertad in 2015 and embarked on an ambitious renovation project to increase the quality and yield of his coffee trees. Finca La Libertad sits at 1,600 meters above sea level where the warm days and cool nights create the ideal conditions for cherry development. This lot is a combination of Caturra and Red Catuai varieties. Danny is aided on the farm by 2 permanent workers who help with farm management and cultivation.
Harvest & Post-Harvest
Danny and his employees selectively handpick ripe, red cherry and process it on the farm. Cherry is floated to remove any underripes and then pulped. Coffee is placed in fermentation tanks and left to ferment for 24 hours. Following fermentation, parchment is washed in clean water and transported to the Cafetos de Segovia dry mill where is it laid to dry on raised beds. Parchment is raked frequently to ensure even drying and covered during the hottest parts of the day and at night. It takes 10 to 12 days for cherry to dry.
Coffee in Nicaragua
Nicaragua may not be the most famous producer of Central American coffee, but it has great potential. The country is known as the land of ‘los lagos y los volcanes’ (lakes and volcanos) and has many coffee growing ‘pockets’ that few have heard of or experienced. Many producers in the country are experimenting with new varieties and processing methods, making it a specialty origin to watch.
Many coffee producers in Nicaragua today are buoyed by cooperatives that provide a wide array of services, supports and opportunity. As seen in the win of the ‘El Acuerdo de las Tunas’, where 3,000 landless workers won land rights, collective action by farmers can be far more effective at enacting widespread change than the advocacy of individual farmers.
Cooperatives and farmer associations in Nicaragua encompass a large percentage of the country’s coffee producers, and they are taking their destiny in their own hands. By putting great emphasis on quality and by aiming for the international specialty coffee industry, cooperatives and farmers associations are helping their members gain influence and import that will, hopefully, garner enough profit to enable farmers to continue to improve and invest in their farms and their families.
Large and medium-sized (10+ hectare) farms also hold a significant place in Nicaragua’s coffee landscape, as well. Many of these farms have also prioritized social and environmental issues and are working on quality improvements at both cultivation and post-harvest levels.
Farmers, for the most part, will process coffee on their own farms, and the majority of the time coffee is dried on large drying patios under sun.