It’s hard to say there is one defining characteristic of Nicaraguan coffee. Some have the balance and “crowd appeal” of Mexican coffees from Oaxaca, mild milk chocolateA general flavor or aroma term reminiscent of chocolate. But what type? Usually described with more specifics.: Chocolate is a broad, general flavor or aroma term reminiscent of… roast tons. The coffees of Matagalpa come to mind. Others have a more pronounced acidityAcidity is a positive flavor attribute in coffee, also referred to as brightness or liveliness. It adds a brilliance to the cup, whereas low acid coffees can seem…: Some are mildly citrusyQualities in coffee that are reminiscent of a citrus fruit; orange, lemon, grapefruit, kumquat, etc.: Qualities in coffee that are reminiscent of a citrus fruit; orange, lemon, grapefruit,… and light bodied, such as the coffees of Ocotal and Dipilto.
The botanical cultivars utilized are usually old, traditional selections: Typica, some Bourbon and Maragogype dominate, along with Caturra and Pacas. There is some of the less desirable Catimor types too, but many farms removed it after the “catimor craze” 10-20 years ago passed. CatimorAteng is a common name for Catimor coffees widely planted in Sumatra and other Indonesia isles.: Ateng, with several subtypes, is a common name for Catimor coffees widely… is a family of coffee varieties with some RobustaRobusta usually refers to Coffea Robusta, responsible for roughly 25% of the world’s commercial coffee. Taxonomy of Robusta is debated: some sources use “Robusta” to refer to any… genes mixed in with ArabicaArabica refers to Coffea Arabica, the taxonomic species name of the genus responsible for around 75% of the worlds commercial coffee crop.: Arabica refers to Coffea Arabica, the…, and while it produces a lot of coffee and has some plant disease resistant, it doesn’t generally cup as well as other pure Arabica varieties.
When in season, we offer some new “exotic” cultivars too: a Pacamara, a “Java” cultivar and the large bean Maragogype. There’s also the large bean Maracaturra (as the name implies a cross of Maragogype and Caturra varieties). It can have the depth of Maragogype and a citrus like accent. These coffees are all “spontaneous” mutations, not produced in a lab, but by natural cross-pollination events on farms.
Processing variations are now popular in Nicaragua too. Pulp Natural process is also a variation that gives the cup great body and a slightly rustic fruited layer. Pulp Natural is also called “honey coffee”, simply because the fruit left on the bean when drying is often yellow and sticky like honeyIn coffee, honey-like sweetness is often found, but we use terms such as refined honey (highly filtered and processed) as opposed to raw honey rustic honey sweetness. This…. Dry processDry process coffee is a method for taking the fruit from the tree to an exportable green bean. The whole intact coffee cherry is dried in the sun… coffee is gaining popularity too.
It seems that many of the growers in NicaraguaNicaraguan coffees from the Segovia, Jinotega, Ocotal and Matagalpa regions are nice balanced cups. They often possess interesting cup character along with body and balance, outperforming many other…, sensing that the value of their CaturraCatimor is a broad group of cultivars derived from a Hibrido de Timor (HdT) and Caturra cross, highly productive, sometimes with inferior cup flavor. The main issue is… coffees reaches a certain ceiling and rises no further, are trying many combinations of coffee varietyA botanical variety is a rank in the taxonomic hierarchy below the rank of species and subspecies and above the rank of form (form / variety / subspecies… and processingThe removal of the cherry and parchment from the coffee seed.: Coffee is either wet-processed (also called washed or wet-milled) or dry-processed (also called wild, natural or natural… to command higher prices.
We value the approachable sweetnessSweetness is an important positive quality in fine coffees, and is one of five basic tastes: Sour, Sweet, Salty, Bitter, Savory (Umami). In coffee, sweetness is a highly… and restraint of wet-processed old-style varietals like BourbonA coffee cultivar; a cross between Typica and Bourbon, originally grown in Brazil: Mundo Novo is a commercial coffee cultivar; a natural hybrid between “Sumatra” and Red Bourbon,… and Typica, and their offspring like CaturraCaturra is an Arabica cultivar discovered as a natural mutant of Bourbon in Brazil in the first decade of the 20th century, but wasn’t studied until 1937. It…. We feel that an occasional foray into the exotic is fine, but people want to drink these classic coffees more often than unbalanced, one-off, odd coffees. So we like to see growers focus the core of their efforts toward these sweet and elegant coffees, not the flash-in-the-pan varietals or processing experiments.
If you are a fan of a heavy Full City or Vienna roastVienna roast occurs at the beginning of second crack. The Vienna stage is where you begin to find origin character eclipsed by roast character.: Vienna roast occurs at… (in either case, you are letting the 2nd crackAn audible popping sound heard during roasting. In coffee, one refers to “first crack” and “second crack,” which come from two different classes of chemical reactions.: An audible… start and you stop the roast before it gains its momentum), then you really need to try a Jinotega or Matagalpa Nicaraguan at that roast level.
They have enough bodyAssociated with and sensed by mouthfeel, body is sense of weight and thickness of the brew, caused by the percentage of soluble solids in the cup, including all… to stand up to dark roasts and the great balanceSuggests a harmony and proportion of qualities, and implies mildness since no one quality dominates.: Balance is both an obvious and slippery taste term. It implies a harmony… and pungentRefers to an aggressive, intense aroma or flavor, often related to spices (pepper) or roast tastes. Pungent foods are often called “spicy”, meaning a sharp or biting character,… bittersweetness is unparalleled! Roasted to Vienna stage, these coffees can make excellent and unique single-origin espressoA small coffee beverage, about 20 ml, prepared on an espresso machine where pressurized hot water extracted through compressed coffee.: In its most stripped-down, basic form, this is….
See our current selection of Nicaraguan Coffee at Sweet Maria’s.
Country Profiles:
Nicaragua produces fairly large volumes of wet-processed coffee. There can be a very “commercial quality” approach to this system in many cases.
Farmers will process their individual lots, fermenting the small amount in a bin or plastic buckets, then partially dry the coffee. The “humid” coffee is bagged up and sold, sometimes through middlemen called “coyotes,” to the larger mills.
The coffee is often trucked to lower, hotter areas like Esteli, where it is unbagged onto plastic tarps to dry on the ground.
There are many problems with handling the coffee like this, particularly that the partially dry parchmentGreen coffee still in its outer shell, before dry-milling, is called Parchment coffee (pergamino). In the wet process, coffee is peeled, fermented, washed and then ready for drying… coffee can become mustyOff aroma and flavor that reminds one of a dank, moldy closet. This flavor can hint at a dangerous coffee mold and should not be consumed.: Off aroma… or moldy in the bags, and when finally dried it is at extreme high temperatures. The system is built for expedience and speed, not quality.
Yet there are many farms that process their own coffee, along with neighbors, taking great care in fermentationFermentation in coffee processing traditionally referred to the stage in wet-processing of the coffee. We now understand that fermentation happens more broadly in nearly all processes, including honey… and drying.
There are nice coffees from the areas of Matagalpa and to some extent Jinotega, old names when it comes to quality coffee. But we prefer the state of Nueva Segovia in general, between the city of Ocotal and the border with HondurasHonduran coffee was absent from the top ranks of the Specialty market, but that has changed. It has all the environmental factors on its side: soil, altitude, climate…..
This area has great altitude and climate for quality coffee, and seems to be our area of focus in recent years.
See our current selection of Nicaraguan Coffee at Sweet Maria’s.
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