About This Coffee
Asociación Aldea Global works with smallholder producers across the Jinotega region of Nicaragua. Founded on the shores of Lake Apanás, the organization has grown from 22 members in 1992 to several thousand today. Their focus is on providing guidance on sustainable farming methods and facilitating access to microfinance, enabling members to invest in their farms, boost their yields and increase their income.
This lot comes from 125 women coffee producers in Aldea’s Tierra Madre program. This initiative was created to champion the participation of women in the coffee value chain. In Jinotega, women hold only 15% of land titles, which are vital for accessing microloans for production and farm renovations. Tierra Madre members receive an additional premium based on coffee that meets a high-quality standard, which helps them obtain the legal title to their land.
Cultivation
Jinotega is one of Nicaragua’s primary coffee growing regions. Located in the central northern mountains, it is characterized by its fertile volcanic soils, humid tropical climates and rich biodiversity.
This coffee is Rainforest Alliance Certified, meaning that the coffee has been cultivated using methods that seek to maintain biodiversity and rich ecosystems.
The farms contributing to this lot are also certified Organic.
Harvest & Post-Harvest
In Nicaragua, the harvest runs from October to March. Farmers contributing to this lot hand-pick cherries when fully ripe. The coffee is then depulped, fermented, washed with fresh water and then placed on raised beds and patios to dry.
Rainforest Alliance
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.
SHG
Strictly High Grown (SHG) specifies the altitude at which the coffee was grown. A coffee must be grown at 1,200 meters above sea level or higher to be considered SHG. The higher altitude and lower temperatures mean that the coffee fruit matures more slowly, creating a denser bean.
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.