Description
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.
Tasting Notes: A great tasting medium to dark roast Nicaraguan coffee. Medium bodied, a little hint of lemony citrus at the lighter roasts balanced with a nice sweet and smooth malty tones. Medium roasts are the sweet spot, lower acidity, smooth and developed with a sweeter edge. Darker roasts get fuller bodied and introduce some nice smoky and roasty accents into this very malty cup profile.
Roasting Notes: Easy to roast and versatile coffee. Medium roasts are nice for a daily drinker, a little more body and a bit smoother. Works nice darker as well, the roasty notes are a compliment to the malty factor and mix to create a very nice darker roast coffee. The classic Nic profile is always one of my favorite dark roast profiles.
Morgan LoCaste (verified owner) –
This is another hidden gem found among the Burman list of great coffee. Take it to a City to Full City and enjoy.