La Biosfera is an educative mountain
adventure and healing retreat-in-progress in Nicaragua that encourages volunteerism and
cultural exchange while working organically on quality of life issues.
1lb bag Café Jaylander, shown here with an antique depulper, and leather tool bag made locally. Coffee:$6 ToolBag:$8 Mill:Priceless?
Cafe Jaylander,
or Highlander Coffee if you will, is grown in the mountains of Nicaragua - Jinotega, City of Eternal Man - from the Nahuatl "Xinotecatl." A blend from La Biosfera and other area farms and specially roasted at Las Trincheras on the northern edge of town, Cafe Jaylander
sales assist to fund the science related to Naturali Mountain Spring Water, and support ongoing poverty alleviation initiatives at La Biosfera Retreat.
ENJOY A STEAMING CUP AND FEEL IMMORTAL!
Nov-Feb Coffee Season, gets down to around 16 Celsius
Katoie (yellow) and Katurra (red) varieties @ La Biosfera
Coffee beans freshly picked, at La Biosfera in Jinotega. Note the different vareties.
Katurra, Maragojipe
Katoai, Malacca
Coffee Primer
TERMINOLOGY: - Berry, or En Cereza (cherry) - the red berry on the tree, contains two coffee beans - Grano - the single bean, not called a frijol in Spanish - Pergamino en Fermentacion - in the process of depulping, with "miel" (honey) still covering the bean - Pergamino - after depulping from the berry, coffee has been dried, but thin shell needs to be flaked off - Trillar - the process of flaking off the pergamino shell; threshing - Cafe en Oro - dried, threshed and ready to be toasted. - Del Primero, Chumascado - the first coffee haul around November-December, not the best - Del Segundo - Second coffee haul, the best quality. Price does not vary from Primero - Del Tercero o mas - Not considered very good and likely to command lesser price - Quintal (Q) - 100 lbs. In local language, from 2Q (one carga) Pergamino you get 1Q Oro, after 'trillando' - Carga - 2 quintales - Temporada - Coffee Season - Tiempo Silencio - Off season, prep time for the temporada - Campamento or Camarotes - workers barracks with bunkbeds, stacked 2-3 - Aguinaldo - 13th month's pay, for year round workers, "Christmas bonus' - Verano - Summer, April-May or so (dry season) - Invierno - Winter, June-Mar (strongest rains; Dec-Mar is windy and cold)
PLANTING, HARVEST, ETC: Starting: You can buy in plants from approx. 5 cordobas each or plant your own in a prepared dirt bank, transfer to bags under trestle-like shade under Maracuya/Passion Fruit or Chaya (a cheap, whitish squash treated like the potato in soup).
Shade: Guineo/Banana is good for shade, to sell and to feed workers, sometimes considered unruly if not well maintained. Guava is a good, even and attractive shade tree (looks "estately"), bark like birch and fruit is juice/mix for Nicaraguan cocktail El Macua.
Yields: Best yields are produced from planting strategies at about 2500-3000 coffee plants per manzana. If you cram in more, you will have them fighting for space and so their berries will grow out toward the top and leave the lower area bare. If you were to grow the large beaned Maragojipe you'd put in fewer, like 2000-2300/mz as it will grow taller and wider (note: commands almost double in price than Katurra), but you could easily plant more. Some will say that 5000 coffee trees per mz is do-able but all reports indicate that such "rookies" learn to cut back. More plants also means need for more workers but doesn't translate into best yields. The common Katurra variety takes 2-3 years to give first yields, and Maragojipe takes 3-4 years; The Katurra will yield for around 7yrs and Maragojipe has been known to give yields up to 15yrs or more. Known varieties in the zone include Katurra, Maragojipe, Borbon, Katoai, Pacamara, Marakaturra, and Katimo, Malacca, Tesiqui. As an example of what yields to expect 10mz of coffee spaced at some 2800/mz will likely produce between 375-500 Cargas (750-1000Q, or 75,000-100,000 lbs). A Toyota Landcruiser or similar sturdy vehicle can load up to 40Q.
Process: Depulp-Ferment-Wash-Dry-Thresh-Toast. Despulpar-Fermentar-Lavar-Secar-Trillar-Tostar. Investing in a "Beneficio Ecologico" to process coffee onsite saves a lot on water use, environmental damage, bean quality selection and labor costs by Regular (non-organic) fertilizer runs around 500 cordobas per Quintal, and 6Q/mz is estimated. Threshing and toasting are outsourced throughout Nicaragua, not done on site.
Comments welcome: info@hijuela.com
Some Key Links
http://www.pagjino.org - Asociacion Aldea Global Jinotega (Global Village) works innovatively to provide credit and commercialization services to farmers and their families.
