How much coffee does Nicaragua export? What are the preferred varieties, and what does a typical cup of Nicaragua coffee taste like? What role does coffee play in society and the economy, and what does its future look like? These are fascinating questions with interesting, thought-provoking answers. And then there is the DO Dipilto. A novelty in this Latin American country, perhaps even a pioneering one. Let's dive together into the exciting coffee world of Nicaragua.
Table of Contents
- Coffee in Nicaragua today
- Taste, volume, quality
- Challenges, facts & figures
- Coffee in Nicaragua yesterday
Coffee, an important economic sector?
This Central American country, with its capital Managua, borders Costa Rica to the south and Honduras to the north. It is characterized by a very diverse geography, ranging from the Pacific and Caribbean coasts and many different microclimates to a chain of active volcanoes.
Coffee cultivation is one of the most significant agronomic sectors and is a source of income and employment for many people. In Nicaragua, more than 330,000 people are employed in coffee, accounting for 15% of the labor market and 54% of the agricultural sector. Of these, 44,000 are coffee producers, 71% of whom own an average farm size between 1 and 14 hectares.
The remoteness of many small farms, as well as the struggle with coffee leaf rust, the natural disaster surrounding Hurricane Mitch, or the civil war and the break-up of large farms in the 1980s are factors why its potential as a major coffee nation is only slowly being realized. Even today, politics continues to directly or indirectly pose new challenges for coffee farmers. Political and economic unrest and uncertainty have led to the Latin American country struggling with massive emigration. One consequence is that many farmers lack the essential workforce for the harvest season. Further articles on this topic can be found, for example, here.
Many of the small farmers practice natural coffee cultivation, partly out of conviction, and partly because there is often hardly any money available for pesticides. The share of organic-certified coffee is approximately 10%.
Where does coffee grow in Nicaragua?
Nicaragua has a variety of soils that differ depending on the region. The soils in the mountain regions are generally of volcanic origin and rich in organic matter. This very fertile soil is excellent for coffee cultivation. In the lowland regions, the soil is mostly sandier and better suited for crops such as tobacco, sugar cane, and cotton - or even Robusta.
Robusta - legally regulated cultivation
What can be grown where is legally regulated. While there have been some farms in the Región Autónoma de la Costa Caribe Sur since 2006 that are officially allowed to grow Robusta, it was prohibited in other regions until recently. Economically, however, this cultivation had no relevance. In 2016, the Association of Coffee Exporters (Excan) achieved a major success. Since then, the new legal reform has allowed the cultivation of Robusta in seven departments in the Pacific region as well as in the two autonomous regions of the Atlantic coast. The resolution stipulates that Robusta may not be grown higher than 400 meters above sea level and must maintain a minimum distance of 30 km from the nearest Arabica plantation. Just a year later, Robusta was even included in the Coffee Law. The reasons for this are, again, economic, because in addition to the fact that Canephora provides a higher yield per plant, it also grows at lower altitudes and is resistant to many diseases, such as the dreaded coffee leaf rust.
The economically relevant cultivation regions for Arabica are Nueva Segovia, Matagalpa, Estelí, and Jinotega. The Nicaraguan potential to further increase the quantity and quality of coffee cultivation is only slowly being exhausted for various reasons. Many future-oriented, revolutionary, and trendsetting coffee farmers are, however, ensuring that Nicaragua is increasingly securing a firm place on the specialty map.
https://www.cafeimports.com/europe/nicaragua
What is the classification system?
Arabica green coffee is classified in Nicaragua based on altitude. It is assumed that the higher the coffee is grown, the better its flavor profile is. The focus here is primarily on acidity, which can develop better at higher altitudes. For Robusta, there is no specific green coffee classification.
· SHG (strictly high grown) for cultivation above 1200 meters
· HG (high grown) for cultivation between 900-1200 meters
· CS for cultivation between 500-900 meters
This type of classification plays a greater role in the evaluation of conventionally traded coffees. In the realm of specialty coffees, Nicaragua follows the grading system of the CQI and the Specialty Coffee Association.
Nicaragua has also had a long tradition of participating in the Cup of Excellence competition.
What does coffee from Nicaragua taste like?
The dominant Arabica variety in Nicaragua is Caturra, which makes up 72% of the total Arabica cultivation area. Other common varieties are Bourbon, Catuai, Catimor, Paca, Maracaturra, Maragogype, and Pacamara, which are traditionally washed processed. Especially in Nueva Segovia, where our Santa Rita farm is located, there are some experimental producers playing with other varieties and post-harvest processes. The characteristic taste properties of these washed-processed varieties are notes of milk chocolate, caramel, honey, and nut with medium acidity and medium body.
Through improved picking, Robusta has gained a lot of potential. Some fine Robustas offer notes of chocolate, fruit, and spices, as well as clean flavor notes with a pleasant acidity and a round body. Even with Robusta, coffee farmers are testing different post-harvest processes, such as honey.
Influential coffee farms in Nicaragua: a selection
Finca Santa Rita - our own coffee farm
Since 2017, we, Kaffeemacher GmbH, have been the owners of the small coffee farm Santa Rita in Tablazon, Dipilto, about 30 km from Ocotal in the province of Nueva Segovia.
We became co-owners of Santa Rita at the invitation of our friend and partner, Roberto Castellanos. The initial impulse was the exchange, financial stabilization, and further development of a small model farm.
In the meantime, Roberto has taken over the management of the family farm and asked us to take over Santa Rita entirely and continue running it. We continue to source coffee from Roberto, and he is our neighbor in Dipilto Viejo with “Las Nubes”.
Our goal is to work as ecologically as possible and to create a healthy cycle on the farm with an intact flora and fauna system. A healthy cycle naturally includes the employees, for whom we provide secure jobs, fair wages, good sanitary conditions, and access to education and insurance.
We see Santa Rita as both a platform and a laboratory. As a platform, Santa Rita serves to invite other producers to exchange ideas with scientists and pass on what has been learned. As a laboratory farm, we conduct experiments with different varieties and post-harvest processes, on the one hand to generate a stable harvest volume, and on the other hand to determine which flavors we can create on a small farm with targeted fermentation. You can find the coffees in our shop, seasonally appropriate and harvest-fresh.
Finca El Àrbol - model farm of our partners
Claudia Lovo and Saša Šestić, together with other supporters, bought Finca El Àrbol. The Australian is the founder of Ona Coffee and Project Origin, as well as an Australian Barista Champion and World Barista Champion. Since 2019, Claudia's partner Tim Willem has been dedicated to the constant optimization of quality, with a focus on the post-harvest process. The farm is managed according to biological-regenerative principles and is the home of 14 people who maintain and nurture the mini-ecosystem created. Coffee, nature, and people should be able to live in harmony – this is the vision that Claudia and Tim share with their employees and their visitors. Both are our partners on-site, involved as representatives and trustees, and manage Santa Rita in coordination with us.
Claudia and Tim are also the ones who conduct the annual Coffee Farm Training on the partner farm El Árbol.
Bridazul - born from challenges
Coffee drying in Bridazul
"We are not a drymill nor an export company. We are the link between people with the same mindset."
Tim Willem, Finca El Àrbol and Bridazul
In the 2018/2019 harvest season, Claudia and Tim began experimentally drying coffee on their own farm. In the same year, the country suffered from great political instability, with the result being a credit freeze by banks, which was catastrophic for coffee farmers. Several producers asked Claudia and Tim for help, hoping to get a higher price for their green coffees through their strong network – otherwise, the farmers might have lost their farms. Tim and Claudia quickly called several friends to ask if they were interested in buying coffee from Nicaragua. As a result, they were able to sell almost an entire container. Today, they are tenants of a dry mill and sell between five and six containers of green coffee from about 45 producers. With Bridazul, they have also created a place where nature, people, and animals are treated with respect.
Mierisch Family
"The Mierisch Family were the first to make things better and put Nicaragua on the specialty radar."
Tim Willem, Finca El Àrbol and Bridazul
The undisputed and highly respected star producer is the Mierisch family. The German immigrant Bruno Mierisch Boettiger planted the first coffee plant on his farm "Las Lajas" in 1908 and thus laid the foundation for the most successful and multi-award-winning Fincas Mierisch, which now includes 14 farms, three of them in Rio Bonito, Honduras. This makes them one of the large producers in the country, as an impressive 97% of the total 45,000 producers own less than 14 hectares or 20 manzanas of coffee cultivation area.
Valladárez Family
The story of Luis Emilio Valladárez Zelaya began in the 1960s in Dipilto, Nueva Segovia, when he inherited a small plot of land from his grandmother and grew coffee on it. The circumstances were adverse in the beginning, and the valuable cargo had to be taken by horse to the nearest mill or the next village. He planted varieties such as Maracaturra, Maragogype, Java, Villa Sarchí, and Caturra and named his small farm "Buenos Aires" - an award-winning finca that was voted the winner of the Cup of Excellence in 2015. His Maracaturras are considered by many to be the best in the country. Today, the Valladárez family owns several farms, including the also award-winning Finca Miraflor, El Suyatal, Monte Libano, and La Laguna.
El Avion
The farm of Mario José González Rodríguez lies 1400-1800 meters above sea level and is the 2022 Cup of Excellence winner. With 90.74 points, the naturally processed Red Catuai impressed the jury with stone fruit, plum, vanilla, and a clear acidity and very present sweetness. The 100-manzana farm El Avion has been in the hands of the winner since 2012. He grows coffee on only 20 manzanas, specifically the two varieties Red Catuai and Catimor.
The Chianti of coffee: origin designation DO Dipilto
With the Denominacion de Origen, we want to protect the valuable things our coffee gives us.
Don «Milo» Emilio Gutierrez, President of the Asociacion de Cafetaleros de Nueva Segovia
Don «Milo» Emilio Gutierrez on his Finca Los Cypresses de Loma Fria, Nicaragua
Bursting with pride, Don «Milo» Emilio Gutierrez, owner of Finca Los Cypresses de Loma Fria and president of the Asociacion de Cafetaleros de Nueva Segovia, and above all a passionate agronomist, tells of the introduction of the DO Dipilto. This origin certification “Denominacion de Origen de Café Dipilto” is the first of its kind in Nicaragua. It covers the areas of Dipilto, Macuelizo, and Mozonte in northern Nicaragua. “Ever since the introduction of the Cup of Excellence in 2002, coffees from the Dipilto and Mozonte region have repeatedly landed in the top rankings,” says Don Milo. “So we decided to give something back to our farmers and our region by protecting the valuable things that our coffee gives us.”
DO Dipilto area, Nicaragua
With a DO, a product from a specific location is protected in terms of its quality, origin, and ingredients. Comparable origin designations for coffee are quality seals such as Café Marcala in Honduras, Genuino Antigua in Guatemala, and Café de Tarrazu in Costa Rica.
For the approval of the DO Dipilto, 17 sets of specifications had to be created, including technical guidelines for the post-harvest process, drying, and quality control. After four years of paperwork, the farm Cafetos de Segovia was able to reach the milestone in 2022 and sell the first certified DO Dipilto lot to England.
Coffee export from Nicaragua
A coffee year is handled similarly to a school year and lasts in Nicaragua from October to September. The indication of the harvest year therefore usually includes two years, for example, 2021/2022.
The most important port for export is Corinto. In total, over 4.5 million bags were exported in the 2021/2022 coffee year, or in other words, nearly 151 million kg of green coffee. Almost 9% of this was organic-certified. Together, the USA and Europe are the main buyers at 50%.
What are the biggest challenges?
In the last few years, the temperature here in Dipilto around Easter has risen by 10 degrees. While we had 25°C five years ago, today we are at 36°C or even 37°C.
Adan Mejía, Operations Manager Finca el Árbol and Finca Santa Rita, Nicaragua
The biggest problem, the seemingly insurmountable difficulty, is probably also the climate in Nicaragua. Although the country is still struggling with other evils, such as the massive emigration of Nicas to the USA, which has an almost intangible effect on harvest workers. Many farms have far too few workers, which has a fatal effect on their total harvest and sometimes means a loss of up to 40%. According to a study by FUNIDES in 2016/2017, almost 74% of farms are affected by diseases, pests, and fungi, which can destroy entire plots.
Colonialism and Nicaragua
Although the first coffee plants were planted in Nicaragua at the end of the 18th century, the stimulant newly discovered by Europeans only really took hold in the mid-19th century, when global demand rose significantly. The first large coffee farm was established in Managua, from where the business spread to other regions. German and Italian immigrants were encouraged by the Nicaraguan government to buy land for coffee cultivation. And before one knew it, the coffee business was already firmly in the hands of white landowners, who let their workers work for a minimum wage and under the most adverse conditions.
Since 1987, there have been 15 so-called departamentos in Nicaragua, i.e., cantons or federal states, as well as 2 independent regions, namely the Autonomous Region of the North Atlantic Coast and the Autonomous Region of the South Atlantic Coast. After a 20-year conflict, in which one party sought more control over the Miskito indigenous people and they, in turn, demanded greater autonomy, a peace agreement was finally signed in 1987, which paved the way for the creation of the two autonomous regions. This is intended to protect the rights and cultural identity of the indigenous population and the descendants of African slaves. The regions function with their own government and own laws, which are supposed to take into account the cultural and linguistic ethnic groups. Despite a certain independence, both regions are subject to the sovereignty of the country; the government of Nicaragua has the final say.
Facts & Figures
