Nicaragua Robusta El Caribe Natural

Sourcing Details

When coffee is cultivated and harvested at small family owned farms, exporters play a critical role in ensuring quality and fairness.  Arabigos Finos de Nicaragua is a family owned export company with a long history of working in regions known for Arabica production on small farms.  But with a growing demand for specialty grade Robusta, Arabigos turned their logistics and specialty coffee network on to Robusta.  The Robusta species is considered more tolerant to the impacts of climate changes and can grow in places you would not find suitable to grow much of anything else.  So Arabigos turned to the department of San Carlos, where the land had been deforested and then overgrazed by cattle for the last few decades.  Abandoned and subject to seasonal flooding meant the local population were not benefiting from their land.  With support from Arabigos, farmers could invest in flood control and then plant Robusta.  Today Arabigos works with 42 producers who have farms that average around 10 acres in size, collectively, producing enough Robusta for 30 containers.

Processing Details

Robusta’s flavor profile, which has a negative reputation, is improved significantly with some of the processing innovations previously reserved for Arabica coffee.  The work starts with traceability to 42 farms in which the harvest protocol is polished.  Coffee cherries are picked, hand sorted, depulped, fermented, washed and dried in the same way Arabica coffee is handled.

Exporting preparation

Arabigos’ focus is transparency so that importers and roasters can have the best access to information all the way back to the farm level.  For the export preparation, Arabigos has their own operation where dried coffee in parchment from each farm is cupped for quality control before hulling and sorting begins.  Arabigos’ ability to ensure traceability and quality control throughout the post harvest process is a vital resource for establishing higher prices for producers.