9 La Orquidea Nicaragua 2023

My name is Arjen Roersma, A Dutch coffee farmer and travel entrepreneur, living in Matagalpa, Nicaragua for 20 years. With Noelia my Nicaraguan wife, we bought La Orquídea farm in 2006. The total farm is 20 hectares. Just 5ha dedicated for cultivation and the other 15ha as a primary cloud forest we protect as part of the Cerro El Arenal nature reserve.
At an altitude around 1400m. we also grow catuai, java and geisha varieties. We first started growing coffee with the Maracaturra variety in 2008, but participated with the COE until 2017 when we got 7nd place. Now in 2020 it is our 2nd participation and it was a nice surprise to reach 2nd place and a higher score of 89.73. I am specially thankful to the people who work on the farm together with my father in law Don Francisco.

About the process:
The beautiful Maracaturra fruits are picked when very ripe at their fullest sweetness, after de-pulping, the coffee is aerobically fermented with the honey for 36 hours, and then fully washed and shade dried in a dry mill facility.

About the Cup of excellence:
As a small independent farmer the COE is a great recognition and direct connection to international specialty coffee buyers. I would recommend other farmers to participate at this contest that is free for us.

About the auction profit:
I hope much buyers will bid on the Nicaraguan coffees, despite of the difficult times we are facing. We will invest part of the profit in an environmental education program, aguali.net, that creates opportunities to young people from Matagalpa to connect and learn about nature.