A refined yellow plum acidity cuts through the coffee's super fudgy character, carrying into a lingering finish of creamy pecans.
This coffee comes from the Matagalpa region of Nicaragua, grown and processed for us by our good friends the Mierisch family. It's one of our longest producer relationships going, we've been buying from their farm Finca Limoncillo since 2007, and we don't see that changing any time soon. The first single origin from this year's harvest is a Washed Ethiosar.
The Mierisch family's Nicaraguan farms are scattered across the Jinotega and Matagalpa regions in the country's north west, dotted up either side of the mountain range that separates the two departments. When Roland visits, he'll usually take in Limoncillo on the same day as La Huella and Mama Mina, since they sit close together. The route runs Mama Mina first, then La Huella, finishing at Limoncillo, the biggest of the three.
Limoncillo sits at 1,200 metres in the mountains of Matagalpa. It spans 171 hectares, 109 of them under coffee, and nine waterfalls cross the land. It's become something of a benchmark for Nicaraguan specialty coffee, and it's easy to see why once you're there. The farm grows Caturra, Red Bourbon, Pacamara and Java among its varietals.
The family's coffee history goes back to 1895, when German émigré Ernst Bruno Mierisch Boettiger was paid in land for his engineering work on the Pacific railroad between Masaya and Diriamba. He named the farm Sajonia, after his home region of Saxony, and planted his first coffee tree there in 1908. Over a century on, the family runs nine farms in Nicaragua and three in Honduras. Today it's led by Ernst's grandson, Dr Erwin Mierisch Buitrago, and great-great-grandson, Erwin "Wingo" Mierisch Jackman.
Wingo has been on the farms since 2017, working across post-harvest processing, roasting, cupping and green coffee sales. He's the one behind much of the experimentation happening at the mill, developing new processing methods and refining the lab protocols that keep quality consistent lot to lot.
Erick Lopez is Head Agronomist, and his story says a lot about how the family operates. He started in the fields 22 years ago, entry level. The family saw his talent, promoted him, and paid for the further education that's put him where he is today, overseeing most of the farms' day-to-day work. It's not an isolated case either. Plenty of the team have been with the Mierisches for years, and that experience shows up in the cup.
During harvest the family employs over 3,000 people, and more than 60 families live full-time at Limoncillo. Being friends with the family gives us a closer look than most at how they treat the people who grow their coffee, and what we see reinforces something we believe strongly: good people grow good coffee.
Their approach to sustainability runs through everything, from minimal chemical use to careful land management across the estate. In 2024 the farm finished building a 15 kW hydroelectric plant, now supplying renewable power to both the operation and the on-site families. Alongside the coffee, the estate supports cattle and horses and protects large areas of forest for biodiversity. On the social side, the family provides housing, meals, childcare, education and healthcare year-round, and pays wages 30% above the local minimum.
The Don Esteban mill sits on Finca Limoncillo and handles processing for the family's farms across the Matagalpa region. Named for the family patriarch, it's built to adapt, switching methods to suit whatever a given varietal or lot calls for. Cherries are hand-picked, then depulped using eco-pulpers that cut water use while giving the team fine control over how much mucilage stays on the bean, which matters a great deal for precise processing. From there, depending on whether the coffee's headed for washed, natural or honey, it ferments in tiled tanks or dries slowly on covered, African-style raised beds.
The Ethiosar in your cup has a story behind it worth knowing. It came out of work between the Mierisch family and their cousin Ricardo, who farms nearby at a much lower altitude, just 800 metres. Ricardo's plants had started struggling: yields falling, disease pressure rising, a combination he put down to climate change, heavier rainfall, and the general difficulty of growing specialty coffee at lower altitudes in Nicaragua. One experimental plant, though, was doing the opposite. More fruit, and real resistance to disease. That plant was Ethiosar.
It's a stable hybrid, bred to hold onto cup quality while building in resistance. The cross starts with Sudan Rume, an heirloom Ethiopian variety known for its complex, floral character, and Sarchimor, itself a hybrid of Villa Sarchi and Timor bred for resilience. That combination is then crossed again with Villa Sarchi, the dwarf Bourbon mutation from Costa Rica prized for its sweetness and compact growth. What comes out the other end is resilient, high-yielding, and, more importantly for us, genuinely good in the cup.
- Country: Nicaragua
- Region: Matagalpa
- Municipality: Yasica Norte
- Farm: Limoncillo
- Producers: The Mierisch Family
- Farm size: 171 hectares
- Coffee growing area: 109 hectares
- Protected Rainforest: 54 hectares
- Varietal: Ethiosar
- Process: Washed
- Elevation: 1,200 masl
- Harvest Months: October-February
- Diurnal Temp. Cycle: Avg High 25C, Low 17C