Nicaraguan Premium Selva Negra – San Felipe – Caturra Washed Processed

Description

San Felipe is a highly prized lot located within the historic Hacienda La Hammonia (Selva Negra) in Matagalpa, Nicaragua; it is one of the hacienda’s highest-altitude parcels, situated on the steep, shaded slopes that have defined Selva Negra coffee for over a century. Grown at an elevation of approximately 1,200 meters beneath a lush forest canopy and atop rich volcanic soils the beans benefit from a slow maturation cycle that imparts depth and sweetness to the cup. The lot consists of Selva Negra’s traditional, high-quality varieties primarily Geisha and Caturra hand-harvested at their peak ripeness and fully washed using the hacienda’s signature eco-friendly methods.

Nicaraguan Selva Negra coffee is cultivated in the most ecologically sustainable and socially responsible way possible.  Learn more by reading our Selva Negra Grower Profile.

San Felipe: Selva Negra has owned a small section of land called San Felipe for a while, highest altitude parcel on the farm but due to its steep slope and slight separation from the other lots, it was never farmed.  8 years ago, Mausi (owner of Selva Negra) was able to get her hands on a few Geisha beans. After they were able to plant these and then get a few harvests, they had enough seeds to plant about 500 trees on the highest altitude section of San Felipe.  As Geisha is not known for its high yields, they planted the rest of the plot with their best Caturra.

Tasting Notes: A very clean and fresh batch from Selva Negra. A little citric & floral acidity upfront, balanced with nice complex nutty & malty undertones. Light roasts are going to be a little front loaded with the brighter characteristics, a higher rated cup meaning one will notice some decent crisp acidity at the light-medium roasts. Will give great depth of flavor but may be a little sharp for some. Our favorite roast and a great everyday drinker was in the medium roast ballpark, builds more of a smooth and creamy cup with a sweet edge, reducing that perceived acidity to just a pinch. Turns much stronger, a robust cup most would say, into the darker roasts but shined nicely; fuller bodied with strong malty and smoky tones, still a sweeter edge to it which darker roast fans will love.

Roasting Notes: A little more challenging to roast but luckily tastes pretty good no matter where you roast it to. Error lighter than darker when playing around. Although this cup tastes like a nice Ethiopian natural, it will roast much more two toned. When shooting for a nice light roast, judge it by the lighter shades of beans, make sure they get through first crack then cool it out. A speckled roast is normal, you will see 2-3 shades of beans when done roasting, this coffee is produced to give those results.

Selva Negra’s history is in many ways the history of the coffee in Nicaragua altogether. In the 1880’s the Nicaraguan government invited young German immigrants to come and settle in Nicaragua in order to promote coffee growing in the northern highlands. Many accepted the offer, thus forming the main coffee plantations of the country; some estates bear names of their motherlands. Selva Negra means Black Forest, and the coffee estate is called La Hammonia, Latin for Hamburg. Located approximately 4,000 ft. above sea level, La Hammonia has been producing fine old style Arabica coffee for over 100 years. Eddy Kühl & Mausi Kühl-Hayn, the farm’s proprietors are descendants of two of these original German immigrants – Alberto Vogl and Klaus Kühl.

Selva Negra Estate Coffee is grown at a high altitude in a shaded environment. This allows the bean to have a slow development cycle which instills an intense and fulfilling flavor to each bean. The coffee is not only 100% Arabica, but more importantly it is mostly Bourbon and Typica strains (which produce higher quality beans than other varieties of coffee trees). The region of Matagalpa, Nicaragua is mountainous with excellent volcanic soil producing exceptional beans. Finally, the coffee is prepared using an environmentally friendly washing process, which gives the coffee still one more unique quality enhancing aspect.

Selva Negra means Black Forest – beyond the coffee trees below you can see why.

A great example of a good looking production tree and how the fruit ripens at different times – this is what makes hand picking so necessary for good coffee.

After a hard day of picking…

Finally the reception – every afternoon of picking all the workers gather for the cherry reception – this is where the work for the day will be logged and the start of the processing for the cherry. Normally workers get paid by volume but many farms bonus on quality – too many damaged/under-ripe beans in the pick is bad for everyone