NicaNelly
Fresh Roasted Coffee
Fresh Roasted Coffee
Direct Trade Specialty Coffee makes the perfect cup
We opened The NicaNelly Store in March, 2008. Our intention was not to start a retail import store, but to find a way to bring the delicious specialty coffee from our farm, Finca Santa Catalina, in Nicaragua, to the United States.
We bought the Farm!
We purchased the coffee farm in July of 2004, then undertook the task of cleaning it up and turning the coffee organic. It took a number of years to get there, but we are now proud to be specialty coffee. Finca Santa Catalina is 37 acres or 20 manzanas. Our trabajadores (farm workers) are supplied with a home that has electricity and running water. This might not sound like a big deal, but in Nicaragua, 80% of the folks still cook over wood fires. Typically, only the "well to do" have such utilities.
In addition to coffee, we grow avocados, plantains, bananas, oranges, lemons, coconuts, mangos, papayas, zapotes and other tropical fruits.
How to really make
the perfect cup of coffee
The perfect cup of coffee starts with the treatment of the coffee tree itself. To be healthy, coffee needs about 50% sun and 50% shade, so "shade grown" coffee is happier, in a plant kind of way. A canopy of broad leafed trees is best to keep the coffee from getting too much sun. Shade grown coffee produces fewer, but sweeter, coffee beans and the canopy is good for the wild animals and birds. Fertilizer, as such, is added constantly during the weeding (limpiarse) process, as excess vegetation is left to decompose in the rows of coffee plants. In addition, once a year, organic fertilizer made from chicken manure and coffee pulp are added to the plants. Only when the coffee beans are ripe is the coffee handpicked. It must then be processed the same day. A typical coffee tree is harvested three times during the season as the beans ripen.
Processing Coffee
Step one of processing the coffee is the "first sort". This is done by taking the fresh picked "coffee cherries" and dumping them in water. Anything that floats is bad and is discarded. The cherries are then squeezed using a coffee pulper, which removes the skin. The beans (typically two per cherry) are again soaked in water. This is the "second sort" and any floaters are again removed and discarded. The remaining coffee then sits and goes through a natural fermentation process. After about 14 hours, the beans are rinsed and laid in the sun to dry.
The drying process
The beans are turned and moved every couple of hours. This is a very important step as the coffee will grow mold if this is ignored. While the coffee is hand turned, it is also inspected, considered the third sort, any bad beans are discarded. After two or so weeks, the coffee is tested for moisture content. If the coffee passes this test, it is stored until the harvest is finished. The harvest usually runs for 2 1/2 months.
Final steps of coffee processing
After all of the coffee has been harvested and dried, the beans are kept in storage until they are ready to ship. Shortly before shipping, the beans are "husked". This process removes the hard outer shell and releases the beans. Waiting until right before shipping to husk the beans ensures that the coffee is the freshest possible. The beans are then sorted a fourth time to remove any dark or bad beans.
Roasting the coffee
The processed coffee is brought to our store in Talent, Oregon. Our small batch Cafemino coffee roaster will roast about a pound at a time. But before we roast, we sort the beans again. Because the roaster is small, special roasting for our customers is no problem. But before we pass the roasted beans to our customer, we sort yet another time. Are you wondering why we would sort again? We make sure the beans are the right color, not too dark, not too light, but just right as the customer likes it. The perfect cup of coffee requires fresh roasted beans. Stale beans will ruin a good cup of coffee. Beans only stay fresh for a couple of weeks after roasting, so buying your coffee in smaller batches and consuming it within two weeks is highly recommended.
The final steps of
the perfect cup of coffee
The grind depends on your brewing process and just this subject alone could be a 20 page report. Coffee should be ground right before brewing. This will release the best flavors into the cup.It is recommended that you use two tablespoons of coffee per eight ounce cup of water. But brewing coffee is not a standard but a matter of taste. We suggest that you try this formula as a starting point and adjust the grind, brew time and brewing process as your taste dictates.
And that is how you make
the perfect cup with our specialty coffee
We bought the Farm!
We purchased the coffee farm in July of 2004, then undertook the task of cleaning it up and turning the coffee organic. It took a number of years to get there, but we are now proud to be specialty coffee. Finca Santa Catalina is 37 acres or 20 manzanas. Our trabajadores (farm workers) are supplied with a home that has electricity and running water. This might not sound like a big deal, but in Nicaragua, 80% of the folks still cook over wood fires. Typically, only the "well to do" have such utilities.
In addition to coffee, we grow avocados, plantains, bananas, oranges, lemons, coconuts, mangos, papayas, zapotes and other tropical fruits.
How to really make
the perfect cup of coffee
The perfect cup of coffee starts with the treatment of the coffee tree itself. To be healthy, coffee needs about 50% sun and 50% shade, so "shade grown" coffee is happier, in a plant kind of way. A canopy of broad leafed trees is best to keep the coffee from getting too much sun. Shade grown coffee produces fewer, but sweeter, coffee beans and the canopy is good for the wild animals and birds. Fertilizer, as such, is added constantly during the weeding (limpiarse) process, as excess vegetation is left to decompose in the rows of coffee plants. In addition, once a year, organic fertilizer made from chicken manure and coffee pulp are added to the plants. Only when the coffee beans are ripe is the coffee handpicked. It must then be processed the same day. A typical coffee tree is harvested three times during the season as the beans ripen.
Processing Coffee
Step one of processing the coffee is the "first sort". This is done by taking the fresh picked "coffee cherries" and dumping them in water. Anything that floats is bad and is discarded. The cherries are then squeezed using a coffee pulper, which removes the skin. The beans (typically two per cherry) are again soaked in water. This is the "second sort" and any floaters are again removed and discarded. The remaining coffee then sits and goes through a natural fermentation process. After about 14 hours, the beans are rinsed and laid in the sun to dry.
The drying process
The beans are turned and moved every couple of hours. This is a very important step as the coffee will grow mold if this is ignored. While the coffee is hand turned, it is also inspected, considered the third sort, any bad beans are discarded. After two or so weeks, the coffee is tested for moisture content. If the coffee passes this test, it is stored until the harvest is finished. The harvest usually runs for 2 1/2 months.
Final steps of coffee processing
After all of the coffee has been harvested and dried, the beans are kept in storage until they are ready to ship. Shortly before shipping, the beans are "husked". This process removes the hard outer shell and releases the beans. Waiting until right before shipping to husk the beans ensures that the coffee is the freshest possible. The beans are then sorted a fourth time to remove any dark or bad beans.
Roasting the coffee
The processed coffee is brought to our store in Talent, Oregon. Our small batch Cafemino coffee roaster will roast about a pound at a time. But before we roast, we sort the beans again. Because the roaster is small, special roasting for our customers is no problem. But before we pass the roasted beans to our customer, we sort yet another time. Are you wondering why we would sort again? We make sure the beans are the right color, not too dark, not too light, but just right as the customer likes it. The perfect cup of coffee requires fresh roasted beans. Stale beans will ruin a good cup of coffee. Beans only stay fresh for a couple of weeks after roasting, so buying your coffee in smaller batches and consuming it within two weeks is highly recommended.
The final steps of
the perfect cup of coffee
The grind depends on your brewing process and just this subject alone could be a 20 page report. Coffee should be ground right before brewing. This will release the best flavors into the cup.It is recommended that you use two tablespoons of coffee per eight ounce cup of water. But brewing coffee is not a standard but a matter of taste. We suggest that you try this formula as a starting point and adjust the grind, brew time and brewing process as your taste dictates.
And that is how you make
the perfect cup with our specialty coffee
Nelly is demonstrating the fourth sorting of the coffee. Nelly is our inspiration, namesake and a founder of our company. Nelly was born in Granada, Nicaragua. Nica is slang for a Nicaraguan, thus the name, NicaNelly.
A view of the farm from our porch. We also grow coconuts and other produce like avocados, oranges, lemons and plantains.
These red cherries are ripe enough to pick. The green cherries will wait for a later picking
Coffee is handpicked and dropped into a basket that is strapped around the picker's waste
The first steps of sorting the coffee. Tastier coffee stays at the bottom of the barrel while bad coffee and other object float to the top
This leftover coffee pulp will be added to chicken manure to help fertilize the coffee next season
Unhusked coffee beans fill drying beds. The coffee is turned often so that it will dry evenly.