Nicaragua Los Placeres - Christmas Coffee

The Mierisch family, which has been growing coffee for more than 110 years, is one of the oldest coffee producers in Nicaragua and Honduras. This Christmas coffee comes from their oldest and largest farm, Los Placeres, which is spread over 270 hectares of fertile land certified by the Rainforest Alliance. The farm carefully protects the local nature: it maintains protected areas free from deforestation and hunting, where new trees are planted every year to provide shade for the coffee trees and attract wildlife.
At Los Placeres Farm, the family is introducing new planting techniques to achieve even better cherry ripening - planting the trees closer together, which improves airflow and increases the concentration of sugar in each bean.

Processing

Funky Natural is a special process used at Los Placeres Farm to achieve the unique flavour profile of the coffee. This process begins with the harvesting of only ripe coffee cherries, which are then soaked in water to remove the unripe fruit. The cherries are then taken to a drying station where they are placed in a thicker than normal layer, which speeds up fermentation.
During fermentation, the cherries are turned less frequently, which intensifies the fermentation process. On the drying area, the cherries are covered for 36 hours at an average temperature of 38 °C, which is carefully monitored to prevent excessive fermentation.
Once the controlled fermentation is complete, the cherries are spread out in a thin layer to facilitate drying and are turned over more frequently. Drying takes place in the sun for 5 days, followed by 28 days on African drying beds until the cherries reach 12% moisture. The total drying time for this lot is 33 days.