Nicaragua

Description

The coffee producer has a few different farms all under the name Fara Coffees and is owned by the Farahani Family who has three generations of coffee producing experience.   This particular Java was grown at Finca Santa Rita in the Matagalpa region of Nicaragua which I have been to several times.  Matagalpa, Jinotega and Nueva Segovia are the best known coffee regions in Nicaragua.

Santa Rita, the original family farm, is located 7.5 miles from Matagalpa City in Apante County.   This Java has been fully washed and sun dried.

The Farm itself:

• Average altitude: 3,650 ft. (1,113 m) above sea level
• Annual precipitation: 40 - 70 inches (102 - 178 cm)
• Average temperature: 68 - 85 °F (20 - 29 °C)

The below is from World Coffee Research:

Java has a long history of cultivation. As indicated by the name, the variety was introduced to the island of Java directly from Ethiopia by the Dutch in the early 19th century.

It was originally thought to be a Typica selection. In the mid-20th century, it was brought to Cameroon by a local farmer via the Vilmorin company, which acquired the seeds in Java from Porteres (a famous breeder). In Cameroon, the breeder Pierre Bouharmont observed that it was partially tolerant to coffee berry disease (CBD), a prevalent problem for coffee growers in Africa, and well adapted for smallholder growers using few inputs. After nearly 20 years of selection, it was released for cultivation in Cameroon in 1980-90.

It was originally thought to be a Typica selection. But genetic fingerprinting of molecular markers has revealed that Java is a selection from an Ethiopian landrace population called Abysinia.

It was introduced to Costa Rica in 1991 by the Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD) by breeder Benoit Bertrand. The objective was to provide options for smallholders using low inputs, as well as for CBD tolerance (CBD is not currently present in Central America, but there is concern it may move to the region). Seeds were sent to PROMECAFE countries, but it was never released in any of the countries. Subsequently Java’s quality potential at high altitudes has been recognized. The first Central American country to officially recognize Java was Panama in 2016.