Masteroast Origin Trip - Nicaragua. The final stop

Marie-Anne Rogers (Coffee buyer) and Alicia Fieldhouse (Sales Support and Technical) visit South America.

We spent the night in the capital and the next day, with Jay (CTCS), Tom (CTCS) and Dave (Finagra) we headed to Sajonia, one of the largest mills and exporters in Nicaragua. Nicaragua has 4 main coffee growing regions, Matagalpa, Jinotega, Boaco and Pacifco – each region producing different flavour profiles. Sajonia takes deliveries from all 4 regions but mainly Matagalpa and Jinotego which are the closest proximity to the mill. We spent the morning walking round the plant, the huge site takes lorry loads of coffee for processing and grading. Each delivery is checked for quality, moisture and defects before being accepted for processing.
As with other mills, coffee is laid out to dry in separate lots with ID numbers and is turned regularly to ensure an even drying out process in the scorching Nicaraguan sun (the hottest it had felt for us during the whole trip!) 

​As with other mills, coffee is laid out to dry in separate lots with ID numbers and is turned regularly to ensure an even drying out process in the scorching Nicaraguan sun (the hottest it had felt for us during the whole trip!) 

​Unusually, they also produce a roasted product mixed 50/50 with a very sweet, fine powder (also produced in Nicaragua). It is a 25g product and is marketed as being able to provide 8 cups of coffee, extremely cheap but very popular with workers who like their coffee black and very sweet. 

​For our penultimate night, we would be staying at Finca Santa Maria de Ostuma, a real treat! Tucked away off the main road down the hillside of the Matagalpa growing region was a secluded lodge with 12 simple rooms who provide accommodation for those carrying out conservation workers, travellers and volunteer workers. We condensed our group into just 2 trucks and made our way further up the mountains to visit a school which the foundation had been working with to improve the facilities. Further up the mountain we watched a very organised operation weighing out the quintales of coffee cherries from the pickers, being packed into bags of around 40kg before being hoisted (manually!) onto the back of a transporting lorry. The strength and determination from the guys working here really shone through, there was a busy buzz in the atmosphere we hadn’t experienced.

 ​The mill had a really good example of automated processing instead of manual, it uses water and density as the main method of separation. The less dense and therefore less ripe cherries float when submerse in water, they can then be easily separated into different tanks for further processing. Some mills will run coffee through these separation tanks a number of times to make sure they are getting as many ripe cherries as possible.
We then met with Peter, a retired Professor who has spent the last 12 years in Nicaragua whose main initiative is to find some use for the waste products created by coffee processing. He has been able to come up with a formula which creates alcohol from a fermentation process.

​The coffee cherry which is a waste product once the bean has been removed is around 17% sugar, water is added and a domestic washing machine is used as a blender to begin with but also as a centrifuge to separate the solids and liquids. The solution is then mixed with more water, sugar and bread yeast and spends 24 hours in each of the remaining tanks. Carbon Dioxide is syphoned out of each tank and the biomass is fermented to create alcohol. The end product is of a high enough grade to be used as medical grade hand sanitizer. 

​Just as the sun was about to set we made it back to the lodge … to witness the most incredible sunset we had ever seen - pictures definitely don’t do it justice.

The next morning we headed to Bencafe, which has been running since 1994 and is now the biggest beneficio in Nicaragua. It is responsible for producing over 200 containers of green coffee a year, 65-70% of this coffee goes into the speciality market. It takes roughly 3 hours for the coffee to get from the farm to the mill. Although, coffee producers have full responsibility for coffee quality and Bencafe are experts in buying and export, they still like to work closely with their farms and the workers in order to get the best possible product. Quality assurance is paramount for them and they invest a lot into new machinery, processing areas and facilities. 90% of all coffee form Nicaragua is Café Practice (Starbucks) certified, and 100% of Bencafe’s produce is also Café Practice certified. Bencafe is particularly interested in the preservation of Nicaraguan ecosystems and is has been Rainforest Alliance certified for 7 years. Out of six dedicated farms that sell solely to Bencafe, four are RFA certified. 
Our last night was spent at the Bastilla Tourism and Eco-Lodge. 

We were greeted by Natalija who seemed to be running the guest lodge, she looked after us the whole time we were there, everything from checking us in to preparing our dinner.We had a driver pick us up from Finca Sophia and drive us about 40 mins to the lodge. It was set way back off the road, 1200m high in the mountains, a haven for wildlife, birds and a variety of beautiful ancient trees. The Eco Lodge itself is owned by La Bastilla Technical Centre for Agriculture and Tourism, all of the profits generated at the lodge are reinvested into the education of the students, all of whom are from low-income, local families. Their education is essential to the future of this area in Nicaragua, ensuring that future generations have the tools required to provide for their families. ​

​ We were met by the manager and his wife, it was a tricky situation to overcome with little Spanish spoken on our side and little English spoken on their side, however our understanding of spoken Spanish/English seemed to get us through. We seemed to be able to get by listening to Spanish and responding in English (and vice versa), we seemed to understand each other quite well but Natalija helped out when needed. We went out into the forests to see the plantation and the processing mill. We were also able to see the workers weighing in their harvests into the transporter lorries. Interestingly, the workers had picked green and red cherries separately but they have then mixed again in the lorry. This is due to the price paid for ripe and unripe cherries. 

We then went to the wet mill, we had seen earlier in the day the drying beds near to the college classrooms. The mill also had hot tanks where they were drying using the honey process. From what we had already seen at various mills in Nicaragua this was pretty advanced and clearly the workers understanding of the process and outcome was high.
Our final trip of the day was to the sensory room in the college where we were met by Claudia, a student ​who was working towards her Q grader qualification. We tried some of the coffees which had been freshly processed from various regions within the Bastille farm - it was interesting to taste the different profiles.​

The terroir of the land and the altitude creates different density in the beans which in turn creates different flavour profiles.

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​Although the time we spent in Central America flew by, it was such an eye-opener for myself and a great learning curve, I will return to work with renewed enthusiasm and a wider understanding of the product I work with every day. There couldn’t have been a more worthwhile trip to be involved in and I feel extremely privileged.
And so to the long journey home. We had our last picture taken outside the lodge, bid our goodbyes to Natalija and Tobé the puppy and set off on our way. In 24 hours’ time, we would be arriving back to the UK, tired and in need of a good shower but full of information and enthusiasm. 

Alicia Fieldhouse

Central American Photo Gallery