Nicaragua Coffee Origin Guide: Regions, History & Flavor Profile

Coffee was introduced to Nicaragua relatively early during the late 18th century. By the late 19th century, it was adopted as a commercial crop and from 1840-1940 there was a quick acceleration of coffee production in the country. As coffee gained importance to the country, more input and labor was needed to keep up with production.  

During this period, the government made it easy for foreign companies to invest and acquire land in the country. By the 19th century, most of the profits obtained from growing coffee either left the country or went to a small number of landowners. Most of profits left the country with these foreign investors. Cooperatives began forming in the early 20th century with support from the government. By the time the government was overthrown by the Sandinistas in 1979 and communism was at its peak, this created difficulties for the coffee industry. Rebel groups were funded by the US and CIA and, in order to hurt the new government, they often destroyed coffee mills and attacked vehicles transporting coffee workers. Even with very powerful groups out to disrupt the coffee industry, it was still the largest export in the early 1990’s. 

In 1999 the coffee market crashed because of climate shocks and highly volatile production volumes. In 2003 the coffee market was hit again by falling demand, surplus production and collapsing prices. When the C market crashed in 1999 and 2003, this had a big impact on the government, with three of the largest banks in the country going bankrupt due to their exposure to the coffee industry. Natural disasters, such as Hurricane Mitch in 1998 and the coffee le

Cultivars prevalent in Nicaragua include Catimors and Sarchimors, Caturra and Bourbon. Bourbon first was introduced in Brazil in the 1860’s and slowly made its way across South and Central America. Caturra was first introduced to Guatemala, and took thirty years for commercial cultivation to spread, slowly expanding south to finally hit Nicaragua.  

Marsellesa is a Nicaraguan next-generation Sarchimor developed by French Center for International Cooperation in Agricultural Research for Development (Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement, or CIRAD) and Swiss commodity traders ECOM Agroindustrial, released in 2009. 

In 2001, during Marsellesa’s development, researchers crossed it with the descendant of a male-sterile Ethiopian/Sudanese landrace from a farm in Nicaragua called La Cumplida, resulting in a new Nicaraguan F1 hybrid called Starmaya, which can be grown at low elevations, is resistant to leaf rust, and has very high quality potential. 

Nicaraguan coffee traceability used to be notoriously difficult, but this has changed in recent years and now you can trace coffee to the farm or co-op. Historically, farmers had faced political and economic challenges due to political and social unrest epically during the communist uprising of the 1980’s and 90’s. The effects of this ripple into many parts of the country and especially in the coffee sector. During these difficult times farmers produced their coffees with little consideration for quality and sold them locally at a low price. Since the Cup of Excellence came into the country in 2002, you slowly saw an improvement in the country’s reputation for quality. The land is rich in growing region and microclimates that can support the continued increase in quality in the years to come.  

In recent years Nicaragua's primary hurdle has been logistical; container shortages and steamship lines ceasing service at the Pacific port of Corinto have combined to leave long backlogs of coffee waiting months beyond their contract date to exit the country. Nicaragua's millers, just as highly professional, capable and kind as anywhere in the Americas, are dedicated to overcoming these obstacles however possible each year. Their delicious, affordable, and sustainably produced coffees continue bringing in widespread roaster demand, and Royal continues to rely on Nicaragua for a key part of our inventory every year, in part because of the country’s high production volume of certified organic coffees.