Nicaragua Mierisch La Escondida (Anaerobic)

Country: Nicaragua
Region: Jinotega
Varietal: Laurina
Farm: La Escondida 
Producer: Mierisch Family
Process: Anaerobic Natural
Altitude: 975-1230 M
Grade: SHB
Certification: Direct Trade
Cupping Notes: Dried Fruit, Floral, Maple Syrup, Roasted Almond

Recommended Roast: City+ to Full City

Best to try single origin brewed manually, but would work well in blends to reduce caffeine levels

Description: La Escondida is the only farm in the Fincas Mierisch group where the rare Laurina variety is grown. Laurina naturally has significantly lower caffeine than most other varieties with about half the caffeine as an Arabica (around 0.6% to Arabica’s 1.2%). La Escondida is also home to the Mierisch family “varietal garden” new varieties are tested before planting it on one of the farms. La Escondida also uses irrigation, due to its proximity to a river. This helps to accelerate the flowering stage, hence accelerating the harvest.

This lot was processed as a natural after undergoing anaerobic fermentation. Anaerobic fermentation simply means fermentation without the presence of oxygen. We placed freshly pulped coffee into juice barrels (due to their food safe interior) and covered with a lid. It’s important to note that we made sure that the lid would seal the barrel airtight so as to prevent any oxygen from entering the barrel. The lid was modified by drilling a hole in the middle and attaching a PVC pipe and valve. Using our industrial vacuum, we sucked out most of the remaining oxygen inside the barrel. We then attached plastic hosing to the valve and connected it to a water bottle (that was punctured at the top) filled three-quarters of the way with water. By leaving the valve slightly open this creates a “water seal” whose purpose is to suck out any carbon dioxide that will be produced by the coffee during fermentation. The barrels were kept inside our warehouse at a temperature of around 24 degrees Celsius for 48 hours.

After fermenting, the pulped coffee is spread out thinly on our patio and is allowed to dry for four to five days under direct sunlight in order to stop the fermentation and dry up all the mucilage. After that, it’s transferred to African beds where it dries for another 10 to 12 days until reaching 12.5% humidity or below.

All farms in the Fincas Mierisch group provide child day care services for workers and have access to elementary schools. Limoncillo, however, has its own primary school on site, and its own clinic. Child labor is strictly prohibited on all farms, and children are provided free meals during the harvest. Discrimination of any kind is also not permitted on our farms.

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