Producer Silvio Sanchez came to coffee farming through studying agronomy. His mother loved coffee and so the two of them saved their money, took out a loan, and purchased a piece of land well-suited to growing coffee in the La Union, San Fernando region of the Nueva Segovia department.
Santa Teresa de Mogoton is a relatively remote farm, accessible by a single road that leads to a handful of farms. The farm is beyond the reach of cell phone service and the deep trenches along the sides of the road from heavy rainfall challenge even well-equipped 4×4 trucks.
Dense pine forests and interplanted pine trees provide shade for coffee, casting dark shadows of the deep green leaves of the coffee trees, giving Santa Teresa de Mogoton a quiet, spectral atmosphere. The farm is expertly organized, a testament to Silvio’s training as an agronomist, and the neat rows of young trees have given several successful harvests. The farm is 10 hectares and cultivates Catimor and Java varieties in addition to the Catuai selected for this lot.
Natural processing begins when cherries are picked, weighed, and checked for quality at the farm. Next, cherries are transported an hour and a half down the mountain to the warm, dry town of Ocotal in plastic boxes to keep the cherries in good shape. The drying is done in full sun on African drying beds at the Expocamo mill. The coffee is constantly turned and sorted for uniformity. Each day’s picking, called a “partida,” is delivered and dried separately.
More about coffee in Nueva Segovia.