Roast Level: Light
Process: Washed
Producer: Benjamin Weiner
Region: Matagalpa
Altitude: 1200 meters
Harvest: 2023
Tasting Notes: Citrus, honey, white grape, red apple, toasted nuts
Origin photos courtesy of Gold Mountain Coffee Growers.
This coffee has a very present, yet soft mouthfeel, and notes of citrus, honey, red apple, white grape, and toasted nuts.
From the roaster: I feel like this coffee has been on my radar for a few years. Why it took me this long to bring it in as an offering, I can’t be sure. It hits all the high points from a sustainability, transparency, and sensory perspective. I’ve been working with Ben and his company, Gold Mountain Coffee Growers for years to bring in Nicaraguan coffees that consistently exceed the benchmark for Nicaraguan coffee expectations. I’m pretty excited to finally be offering this coffee from his farm, Finca Idealista, not only for the increased vertical integration along the supply chain, but also to offer more direct support to Idealista’s mission, growth, and experimental lots. This “rainforest lot” is not an experiment in coffee processing, which is often what folks imply by experimental coffee, but instead one of an environmental experiment. From wastewater treatment, to avoidance of man-made pesticides and herbicides, to an on-farm seed bank and using on-farm composting for fertilizer, they are using a combined approach of time tested agricultural techniques and nature based innovations. In 2012, Finca Idealista purchased a 10 acre tract of rainforest land containing headwaters that part of the cost of this coffee goes to actively preserving, giving this lot it’s namesake. That being said, this farm is also doing loads of variety and process experimentation as well, yielding a great range of coffees with unique sensory profiles, so like I said, they’re hitting all the high points.
From the producer: Finca Idealista, the flagship farm of Gold Mountain Coffee Growers, is a prime example of how to change the world through coffee. Idealista uses machetes instead of herbicides, a mushroom to kill insects instead of pesticides, volcanic filters to keep mucilage-filled wash-water out of the watershed, and chickens roost above the farm’s compost to infuse it with nitrogen. Pickers are paid double local rates. Did we mention Finca Idealista bought a rainforest just to protect it?