About This Coffee
In 2007, 77 producers joined forces to found COOMCAFE (Cooperativa Multisectoial Café de Altura RL). Today, more than 175 members produce coffee with support from COOMCAFE. The cooperative is Fairtrade and RFA/UTZ certified. COOMCAFE offers microfinancing and technical assistance to help producers cultivate and process high quality coffees.
Cultivation
San Rafael del Norte is located in the municipality of Jinotega, which produces the 65% of Nicaragua’s coffee production. The region is well known for producing a cup with mild acidity and pleasant floral flavors.
Harvest & Post-Harvest
Cherry is selectively handpicked. Since most farmers have small plots of land most of the labor on the farm is completed by family members. However, at the peak of the harvest, the family may hire a few extra hands to help them pick cherry at its ripest.
After harvest, farmers float cherry to remove any underripes or lights that may have been accidentally picked and conduct a visual inspection to remove any cherry that has insect damage or other visible defects. Cherry is then pulped and fermented.
After fermentation, farmers and their families inspect wet parchment a second time for any visual defects. As they inspect it, the wet parchment begins the first stages of drying. Wet parchment is laid to sundry and is raked frequently to ensure even drying.
Farmers deliver dry parchment to Soppexcca’s dry mill.
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.
European Preparation (EP)
EP stands for European Preparation. EP beans are Screen 15+ with a low defect tolerance.
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.