Recommended Low-Acidity Single-Origin Coffee Beans - Nicaragua Buenos Aires Estate Vera Sachi Natural

FrontStreet Coffee - Nicaragua Buenos Aires Estate Villa Sarchi Natural

Don Carlos Bendana Albir is the third generation of a coffee-growing family and now oversees four estates: Santa Adelaida, Buenos Aires, Las Nubes and Las Vegas. His face may look familiar, because Don Carlos is the current president of the Nicaraguan Specialty Coffee Association (Asociación de Cafés Especiales de Nicaragua, or ACEN). He turns up at trade shows around the world, at Cup of Excellence events and even at coffee exhibitions in Taiwan.

Unlike the coffee associations of Guatemala, Colombia and El Salvador, which are tied to government bodies and funded by public budgets, Nicaragua's specialty coffee association is a fully independent organisation started by growers themselves. Carlos was elected to lead it and has served for close to three years. Working with limited resources, he has travelled widely to promote Nicaraguan specialty coffee, and he has earned real respect from the country's farmers. In this year's election he was returned for another three-year term, living up to expectations.

On the wider stage, Nicaragua has had a turbulent few years. Pension and social-welfare reform has been a contentious issue since 2013, and when the president announced a new reform package this April - right as the coffee harvest was being prepared for export - large-scale protests broke out. The unrest brought rioting in some cities, citizens in some areas organised self-defence groups, and for roughly a week the country came close to anarchy, with dozens killed and many more injured. The reform was eventually withdrawn, though the situation has yet to be fully resolved.

At the 2018 Nicaragua Cup of Excellence, Carlos arranged for the winning lots to be shipped to the United States first, which safeguarded the income of the farmers who had earned those awards. We feel very lucky to be able to bring you his estate's coffee this year. Carlos's farms seem especially good at natural and honey-processed lots, with rich wine-like aromas and fruit flavors. The Villa Sarchi natural we selected, lot #84, is a classic crowd-pleasing natural profile. The honey-processed lot makes clever use of the heavy mucilage of the Catimor variety to lift its body and flavor, taking Catimor somewhere new - and it is genuinely interesting.

Nicaragua Buenos Aires Estate Villa Sarchi Natural

Region: Dipilto

Estate: Buenos Aires Estate

Variety: Villa Sarchi

Altitude: 1,200-1,350 m

Processing Method: Natural

Flavor: Tropical fruit, berries, wine aroma, cherry, orange peel

Did You Know?

Nicaragua is the name of a waterfall, the name of a country, and also the name of a coffee bean.

In Brief

FrontStreet Coffee is a dedicated coffee research hall, happy to share coffee knowledge with everyone. We share without reservation simply to help more friends fall in love with coffee. Every month we hold three coffee discount events, because FrontStreet Coffee wants to let more friends enjoy the best coffee at the lowest prices. That has been our mission for the past six years.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If you enjoy the fruit-forward, wine-tinged character of this Nicaraguan natural, FrontStreet Coffee's Colombia Frontera Estate Sidra is a natural next step. Processed as an anaerobic natural and roasted medium-light, it trades the cherry and orange peel of the Villa Sarchi for passion fruit, grape, apricot and dried fruit, with a juicy, layered sweetness that shines as a pour-over or a cold brew.

For a more everyday cup, try FrontStreet's Colombia Huila. Roasted medium-dark, it leans into dark chocolate, nutty sweetness and a rounded, full body rather than fruit. It is a dependable all-rounder that suits a pour-over, a French press, a moka pot or an espresso machine, so it earns its place on the shelf whether you drink your coffee black or with milk.