Coffee

Nicaragua – Santa Rita

This is a coffee that really means something special to us having visited Nicaragua back in January 2024

The coffee farm is located in the stunningly beautiful highlands of Jinotega department north of Matagalpa, this coffee is grown at altitudes of 1250m+. The producer, Luisa Pastora is an exemplary mother, member of her community, and coffee producer from Jinotega who has been in the coffee business for 65 years. Many years ago, after her husband’s death, Luisa took over the farm and painstakingly transformed it into a specialty coffee farm.

Luisa has been working for the last 6 years with our green bean partner, Caravela in Nicaragua. With the support of the Caravela PECA team, Luisa has been able to improve farm management practices and processing techniques. To produce excellent coffee, Luisa relies on selective harvesting. All harvested coffee is transported from the farm to the wet mill, where processing begins. Each daily batch is floated to remove lower-density cherries and clean the coffee. The coffee is then depulped and placed in concrete fermentation tanks. Fermentation takes an average of 36 hours (about 1.5 days). After this process is complete, the coffee is taken to Caravela’s La Concordia drying facility, where it slowly dries on raised beds for 13-15 days (about 2 weeks).

Tasting Notes : Smooth Caramel, almond and plum

Arabica Variety: Caturra, Macaraturra
Harvest Period: Dec – Feb

In 1998, two enterprising fourth-generation coffee businesswomen, Dania Baltodano and Desiree Pereira, found a property in the mountains of Jinotega. The land had been abandoned and deforested during Nicaragua’s civil war in the 1980s, despite once being a thriving coffee plantation. Recognizing its potential, the women took on the challenge and started a new coffee farm. Years of constant work, dedication, and advanced ecological techniques have transformed the desolate land into the beautiful Santa Rita plantation, which now produces special coffee and holds four important planet-friendly certifications. Improvement is always the ultimate goal and a perpetual work in progress; Dania and Desiree are constantly trying new things, learning new techniques, investing in new equipment, and planning for the future.

Today, Finca Santa Rica, is located in the beautiful department of Jinotega in the El Saito community at 1250 masl.
It is a 60-hectare farm, of which 42 hectares are planted with coffee and the remaining 18 hectares are used as a conservation
area. Additionally, 67% of the farm is planted with the Caturra variety, and 33% is Macaraturra.

Finca Santa Rita are a woman-led company that produces high-quality coffee holistically: they grow, process, and market coffee with environmentally friendly practices that are economically viable and improve the living conditions of our farmers. This ensures ecological balance in their unique surroundings, resource efficiency, and socio-economic development of the surrounding community.