Specialty Coffee

This archive presents specialty coffee projects based on unconventional processing methods, including coffee dried in the fruit, honey processing, delayed pulping, and double fermentation. Coffees are differentiated by roast level, varietal, preparation, origin, and process.

Coffee & Cacao Businessman

A brief profile of Alejandro David Bolaños, a coffee and cacao businessman based in Matagalpa, Nicaragua.

Coffee Centre of Specialty Coffee: The Interview

Brian Clark profiles Esquina de los Cafés, a specialty coffee roaster in Matagalpa. The article describes a business focused on locally roasted coffee, direct relationships with growers, controlled processing, product quality, and the experience of visitors to coffee-producing country.

Hard Times for the Market Niche

The interview discusses the business’s dependence on tourism and the difficulties caused by Nicaragua’s civil unrest in 2018. It also outlines possible alternatives, including distribution to Nicaraguan coffee shops, partnerships in the United States, increased production capacity, and chocolate development.

Cornerstones of the Coffee Corner

The operation is presented as resting on three principles: originality, data, and control. New coffee and chocolate experiences are developed through careful observation of processes, while quality, production volume, and market position are closely managed.

Direct Deal Is Fair

The article describes a direct-trade approach involving growers near Aranjuez, between Matagalpa and Jinotega. Coffee fruit is sourced directly, with prices linked to quality standards. Because growing, roasting, and retailing occur in Nicaragua, more of the supply chain remains at the coffee’s place of origin.

Better Coffee, Better Experience

The interview emphasizes roast control and the sensory differences produced by avoiding excessive heat. It also presents coffee education, farm and mill tours, roasting classes, and guided cupping as central parts of the experience.

Coffee Rosé — Honey Process

Café Rosé is described as a delayed-pulping coffee that begins with fermentation in the fruit and continues as a semi-washed honey process. The first stage uses naturally occurring yeast; the second is an aerobic fermentation and drying stage.

• Roast: City Plus
• Process: Honey and semi-washed, with delayed pulping and double fermentation
• Varietals: Bourbon, Red Catuai, Caturra, and a portion of Java
• Origin: Apante, Matagalpa, Nicaragua
• Production: Single origin and single farm lot
• Reported notes: Roses, jasmine, dried berries, black tea, syrup, caramel, honey, vanilla, and blackberry
• Balance: High sweetness and high acidity

The producer attributes the coffee’s floral and dried-fruit character to extended contact with the fruit and mucilage before and during drying.

Coffee Viena — Vienna Roast

Café Viena is a natural-process coffee made from ripe red cherries dried whole in the sun. It combines a Vienna roasting profile with grading after roasting.

• Roast: Vienna
• Process: Natural or unwashed; sun-dried in the fruit
• Varietals: Red Catuai and Caturra
• Origin: Arenal, Matagalpa, Nicaragua
• Production: Single origin and single farm lot
• Reported notes: Almond, chocolate, raisin, prune, and dried fruit
• Balance: High sweetness and high acidity

Selection and Drying

Only ripe cherries are selected by hand, with pickers returning to the trees as fruit reaches maturity. The whole cherries are then dried on patios. The article reports a drying period of approximately five weeks because both the pulp and the seeds must lose moisture.

Green Coffee and Grading

Green coffee is described as unroasted coffee seed prepared for roasting, typically at about 10–12% moisture. Classification considers density, screen size, Arabica varietal, altitude, and local growing conditions.

Coffee Blumen — Honey Process

Café Blumen is a semi-washed honey-process coffee created to emphasize floral, fruit, caramel, and nut flavors. The fruit skin is removed while mucilage remains around the parchment during fermentation and sun drying.

• Roast: Full City or City Plus, as described in different parts of the source
• Process: Semi-washed honey process with fermentation and sun drying
• Varietals: Red or Yellow Catuai, Caturra, and sometimes Java
• Origin: Apante, Matagalpa, Nicaragua
• Production: Single origin and single farm lot
• Reported notes: Strawberry, almond, caramel, chocolate, and flowers

Understanding the Honey Process

The source distinguishes three broad processing categories: washed, semi-washed, and unwashed. In the semi-washed method, the coffee is depulped while some sugar-rich mucilage remains on the parchment. During sun drying, changes in those sugars contribute to the profile commonly associated with honey-process coffee.