Nicaragua Finca El Pastoral Organic

This single estate coffee is a real crowd pleaser! Rich, buttery and inviting, it's a perfect cup for a frigid winter morning. Look for balanced notes of dark chocolate, maple syrup, pear and apple with an almond finish.

Arrival Date: November 20th, 2020

Acidity & Brightness: Slightly crisp, sweet

Balance & Finish: Well balanced with a lingering almond finish

Body & Texture: Rich, Warm, and Buttery Body

Flavors: Dark chocolate, maple syrup, pear and apple

Grade:  Strictly High Grown (highest), grown at 1500-1800 masl

Certifications: Organic

Processing: Fully Washed

Varietals: Catuai and Parainema

Roasting: Start with a Full City (Medium), or just to the second crack. This coffee roasts very evenly and is suited for Medium-Dark roasting as well. Be warned that as you go darker, the body may thin a bit, but the dark chocolate notes will become more pronounced leading into a more bitter baker's chocolate.

Recommendation: Works well with others making it a perfect blender all while standing on it's own merits!

Reminder: This coffee is raw, you must roast it before grinding and brewing

Our Review: What’s the best way to support coffee producers? This is exactly the question Juan de Dios Castillo (the family’s agronomist) and his 4 siblings were looking to answer when they created J&M Family Coffee, a privately-owned export company named after their parents Juan and Miriam (J&M). Their first goal was to sell their parents’ coffee directly to international buyers. It was a way to honor their parents who started cultivating coffee during their childhood with the income from the first family business as tailors in the town of Jinotega. With this first goal completed, Juan de Dios Castillo decided to take the next step and start his own farm called El Pastoral, which has 150 acres of coffee production. During the harvest, the coffee cherries are carefully harvested, sorted and then depulped, fermented, washed and pre-dried at the farm. The partially dried coffee is taken to a nearby location where drying is completed and the coffee is stored and later prepared for export. This is a truly integrated model, in which J&M Family Coffee ensures quality control and traceability from farm to export.

This coffee is a true crowd pleaser. It's a balanced, comforting cup perfect for a frigid winter morning and it's a great blender as well. It's got a rich  body with a buttery, creamy texture followed by a lingering almond finish. Look for sweet and warm notes of dark chocolate, maple syrup, apple and a touch of pear. For a really fun experience, try the natural processed version of this coffee side by side to see how big a difference processing method makes in preparation!