The Legendary Java Coffee Variety of Nicaragua - The Java Variety Story

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The Legendary Java Coffee Variety from Nicaragua

Among Nicaragua's coffee beans, there is a legendary coffee variety—the Java variety.

Java may be one of the most complex histories among all coffee varieties, if not counting Geisha.

Although named Java, this is by no means an Indonesian variety. Java originated in Ethiopia. As early as the 19th century, the Dutch introduced this variety from Ethiopia to Indonesia, hence the name Java. In the mid-20th century, these seeds were collected in Indonesia by the famous breeder Porteres and sent to Cameroon in Africa. In Cameroon, another breeder Pierre Bouharmont discovered that Java had partial resistance to coffee berry disease, which was quite a troubling coffee disease in Africa, and it didn't require much fertilizer while yielding quite well. After 20 years of optimization and selection, Cameroon released this variety between 1980-90 for farmers to cultivate.

Through genetic fingerprinting of molecular markers, research institutions have determined that Java comes from the Ethiopian local variety Abyssinia. When grown at high altitudes, Java possesses excellent quality, even comparable to Geisha!

In 1991, Java was sent to Costa Rica through breeder Benoit Bertrand, provided to small coffee farmers so they could get a new variety that required less fertilizer and could resist berry disease, although serious berry disease had not yet broken out in Central America at that time. Based on this consideration, seeds were sent to all PROMECAFE mutual alliance countries, but they were never truly promoted and planted in those countries. The first Central American country to truly release it was Panama.

Nicaragua should also have received this variety in the 1990s, but it was not promoted to farmers. The Nicaraguan Java we know today, also called Javanica locally, according to Erwin Mierisch of the Mierisch family, was "rescued" by his father from a batch of Java seeds from a research institution. At that time, the research institution had obtained some African seeds and experimented in their garden nursery, but due to years of war in Nicaragua, this institution could no longer operate. The father and son met a person at the closed research site selling a 20-pound bag of seeds, "labeled Variedad Java." Out of curiosity, they bought this coffee, and after several years of experimental planting, they finally succeeded in producing Java.

The Java bean shape is quite special, similar to Ethiopian Longberry. The tree shape is similar to Geisha trees, with main branches at right angles to the trunk. The bean shape is also similar to Geisha, and the cup flavor shows floral notes rarely seen in Central and South American beans. In 2008, the Mierisch family won the COE runner-up with Java, and now more and more farms in Nicaragua are planting Java, making it an important producing region in Central America.

Nicaragua Coffee Beans - Lo Prometido Farm Natural Java Batch

Coffee farmer Luis Alberto Balladarez is a renowned figure in Nicaragua. His farm and washing station have won multiple Cup of Excellence awards. When Luis first won the Cup of Excellence, he donated all the bidding income to the local municipal government as funding for community housing construction—a noble and excellent farmer.

He has three farms: La Esperanza (Hope), Un Regalo de Dios (A Gift from God), and Lo Prometido (The Promise). From the naming, one can see he is a devout Christian. Un Regalo de Dios won 3rd place in COE 2010 and 13th place this year, while La Esperanza won 19th place in 2010. Even more rare is that not only his own farms have brilliant achievements, but his washing station Beneficio Las Segovias processes coffee cherries from local nearby farmers, teaching processing techniques, and also achieves outstanding results. The 4th place finishes in both 2014 and 2015 came from his washing station. Un Regalo de Dios's 2010 victory received a score of 91.31 points!

Luis Alberto Balladarez's farms and washing station are both located in the Nueva Segovia region. This coffee comes from Lo Prometido Farm, located in the Dipilto-Jalapa mountain range, between 1500 to 1670 meters above sea level, with a cloud-shrouded microclimate. Residents come from the La Soledad community of Mozonte, near Mozonte and Dipilto. Lo Prometido covers 28 hectares, with 12 hectares planted in coffee. The northern 16-hectare area is entirely holly forest and pine trees.

Lo Prometido is divided into the following sections, producing different variety batches, among which Java may be the rarest variety generally:

• La Entrada batch – Red Catuai
• Las Calas batch – Red Catuai
• Las Minas – Maracaturra and Java
• El Caracol – Maracaturra and Pacamara
• El Africano – SL28 and Red Catuai
• El Java – Java

Nueva Segovia is near the Honduran border and is Nicaragua's best producing region. Almost every Cup of Excellence top five is dominated by Nueva Segovia.

Nicaragua Lo Prometido Java Natural

• Producing Country: Nicaragua
• Region: Mozonte; Nueva Segovia
• Farm: Lo Prometido
• Farm Owner: Luis Alberto Balladarez
• Washing Station: Beneficio Las Segovias
• Altitude: 1500-1670 meters
• Variety: Java
• Processing Method: Natural

Nicaragua Coffee Bean Brand Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted Nicaraguan coffee beans - Finca El Progreso Washed [Maracaturra] have full guarantees in both brand and quality. More importantly, the cost-performance is extremely high. Each package is 227 grams, priced at only 90 yuan. Calculated at 15 grams of coffee beans per cup, one package can make 15 cups of coffee, with each cup costing only about 6 yuan. Compared to the hundreds of yuan per cup sold in coffee shops, this is a conscientious recommendation.

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Important Notice :

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