Nicaragua 2008 CoE #2, Finca La Gloria / Limoncillo. Fincas La Gloria & Limoncillo are sister farms, both literally and figuratively: they are neighboring farms and belong to two sisters. La Gloria belongs to Ethel McEwan, acquired in 1938 by their father Esteban McEwan, and Limoncillo to Maria Ligia Mierisch McEwan. This coffee is a single varietal named Java-Nica, an Ethiopian Long-Berry by most accounts, but some of its story is mysterious. Here is one account of its origin: Erwin Mierisch of Limincillo wrote recently: My father and I were coming back from visiting some top farms in Nicaragua as we sometimes do to learn from our neighbors and if worthwhile implement those things we see to improve efficiency and quality on our own farms. As we drove past the UNICAFE experiment station Juanetillo which had gone under, a man on the side of the road flagged us down and explained to us how the experiment station had closed down and his “severance” was tools and coffee seeds since they did not have the cash to pay him. He asked if we would be interested in helping him out by purchasing these items off of him. In all honesty, I was not very happy that my father forced me to stop to see what this man wanted, therefore, was not very receptive to his offer, but purchased a bag of seeds and old beaten up shovels. I gave no thought to the 20lb bag of coffee seeds that was labeled as JAVA. My father later showed these seeds to our then supervising agronomist Ing. Patricia Contreras, which worked at that research station, and she was ecstatic and told us about how great this coffee was but not very productive nor resistant to disease as she recalled from running this study at Juanetillo back in the 80s. We planted this JAVA variety and ran some more experiments, various altitudes and processing methods, and have been learning how to manage it since. ..... the JAVA varietal has its origins from Java we suppose, because of the name and how it was labeled since the 80s. There are very limited quantities produced in Nicaragua at this time since no one else wanted to risk planting another varietal that had not been proven. As far as I know, we are the largest producers in Nicaragua with 150 bags on average from all our farms. My aunt Ethel had her first production this year from her experiment area, producing around 8 bags.....The JAVA varietal as far as we can tell is a typica type coffee because of its bean shape as is the geisha. Its physical appearance is a uniform seed that is elongated. It has been described by several of our customers as an Ethiopian Long Berry type. |
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Much work went into this coffee. It was a risky venture to cultivate as this varietal came from a coffee research facility and was new to this region. Only a handful of growers produce this bean. Despite the odds, it has been an experiment that has paid off. Fincas La Gloria and Limoncillo combined their limited quantity of this cultivar for the competition. This has been seven years in the making, and the family is extremely pleased with the results. These family farms are part of the Café Sol y Agua export group, which puts much emphasis on maximizing and improving quality through careful harvest selection, wet milling, and dry milling. The combined farms’ size is about 200 hectares (about 500 acres) of which half is cultivated with coffee trees. The farms employ 60 permanent workers and up to 600 during harvest. All of the coffee is washed and sun-dried on patios. There were only 14 bags of the Cup of Excellence lot and we were fortunate to have secured a small amount for our customers. And although it was the #2 coffee, it generated the most interest and fetched the highest price at auction at $18.55 per pound. This coffee arrived here end July, 2008. Cup Characteristics: The coffee is super sweet and clean, possessing exotic complexity. It has citric acidity with hints of jasmine and tropical fruit. Very delicate, this coffee’s finish is silky and creamy. A truly distinctive cup! Roasting Notes: We suggest roasting La Gloria light to highlight the coffee’s delicate sweetness. Pull the coffee shortly after first crack. Price: $25.42 per pound. No further discount.
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