Finca Aurora Icatú Carbonic Maceration Washed RA

Dr. Enrique Ferrufino, a surgeon by trade, was born and raised on a coffee farm in the mountains of Matagalpa. Together with his wife Silvia, a pediatrician, the Ferrufino family decided to go into the coffee business in 1992 and bought Finca Aurora in 2004. They inspired a love of coffee in their three children from a very early age. Since they acquired Finca Aurora, the whole family has worked together to produce great coffee.  

One of the core values of the business is to inspire people through coffee. Throughout the years they have invested in providing workers with fair wages, safe living conditions, health services, food and education. They also work with smaller producers in the area to help them improve their farming practices.  

Preserving nature is a top priority for the Ferrufino family. They only use renewable energy and work diligently on conserving water resources and natural habitats. The farm houses a variety of native trees, home to many species of birds and wildlife. These trees also provide the plantation with shade and fertilize the soils with organic matter, which protects the land from erosion, droughts, and floods.  

This coffee is Rainforest Alliance Certified, meaning that the coffee has been cultivated using methods that seek to maintain biodiversity and rich ecosystems.    

Cherry is selectively handpicked and processed on the farm. Right after picking, ripe cherry is floated to remove under ripes and damaged cherry and fermented with mossto (juice and pulp from the compressed cherry) in sealed tanks for 24 hours. Employees carefully monitor pH, temperature and brix levels during fermentation. Cherry is depulped and then fermented for a further 24 hours, before being floated again and washed in clean water. After patio-drying for around 15 days, parchment is rested for 10 weeks before hulling. Both dry parchment and green coffee are stored in Ecotact bags to preserve their qualities. 

Finca Aurora is one of the first farms in Nicaragua with a fully integrated coffee operation on-site. They produce, wash and dry the coffee at the farm. The coffee is milled, sorted and bagged at Beneficio Finca Aurora under the watchful eye of the farm’s team. This allows full control over the quality throughout the process.  

RFA stands for Rainforest Alliance, a certification system that emphasizes climate-smart agriculture. RFA farms have at least 40% of land covered by canopy, significant species diversity (at least 12 native tree species per hectare, on average) and a system of natural vegetation buffers between agricultural land and bodies of water.  The farms also use organic fertilizers.

Icatú was developed in Brazil by Instituto Agronômico de Campinas (IAC) and has been selected for its high production and good disease resistance. It was developed by crossing Robusta and Yellow Bourbon, and then crossing the offspring with Mundo Novo. The IAC released Icatú in 1993.