Nicaragua
Central America
The Northern Highlands of Nicaragua produce spectacular coffees. Driving there from Managua on the coast one travels through areas of high extraction, dusty, dry, devoid of vegetation save for hardy scrub.
As the mountains approach the landscape greens up. Where the best coffees grow the forests are thick and littered with natural springs. Waterfalls, dense jungle and high arid pastures surround booming coffee farms.
Many producers belong to local cooperatives, which in turn belong to larger second tier cooperatives. Organization in Nicaragua is important and provides great support for producers in the form of training, agronomic assistance, seedlings, and economic reward.
An estimated 95% of Nicaragua’s coffee farmers are micro and small-scale producers. The family is the primary source of labor on these farms. These households often produce corn and beans, and/or work off the farm. In contrast to the micro-producers, the small-scale farmers generally employ day laborers during the coffee harvest. Most Nicaraguan small-scale farmers grow more than half of the food they eat. These farmers intercrop bananas, oranges, mangos, and trees for firewood and construction within their coffee parcels.
We regularly purchase from the top cooperatives, and partner with a few select family groups. We have imported coffees from the Mierisch family since 2012