A mash up of cherry sweets and red grapes with a loud background funk, but is nonetheless exceptionally clean. The coffee shifts into bubblegum flavour on the aftertaste of this big, punchy coffee.
Finca San Jose is one of eleven farms owned by the Mierisch family in Nicaragua. Located at an altitude of 1,250-1,400 meters in the Jinotega department, this picturesque 46-hectare farm cultivates coffee alongside 3 hectares of protected rainforest. Nestled in the mountain range that borders Jinotega and encircles the skirts of Apanas Lake, it offers stunning views. Doc Mierisch once mentioned his dream of building a small house on the farm to retire, saying, "Overlooking the coffee plants and Lake Apanas in the background sounds like a dream come true."
From the highest point of San Jose, you can see Finca La Escondida, another beloved Mierisch farm, just along the mountains. This incredibly beautiful farm offers breathtaking views that make the three-quarter off-road trek up the mountain well worth it. Acquired in November 2003 when it was completely abandoned, the estate has been a work in progress due to its inaccessibility. Today, Farm Manager Jorge Luis Mendez and his team grow Javanica, Yellow Pacamara, Gesha, Red Catuai, Caturra, and Yellow Pacas.
Javanica is a great varietal with a lot of potential. The Mierisch team have paired it with a wide variety of processing and fermentation methods over the years due to its versatility and suitability for different processes. We’ve bought Java lots from their auction as Washed coffee in the past, this year they’ve opted to process the varietal as this Cold Ferment Anaerobic Natural. On his last visit to Nicaragua Roland cupped this coffee and thought “HEY this is really delicious!”. There were a couple of other options available at the time but this one really stood out as the best.
In order to carry out the Anaerobic processing for this coffee, the Mierisch family have built a cold room at their Don Esteban mill. This facility keeps the coffee at cooler temperatures during processing; the cold room is a few degrees above zero (a bit like a large walk-in fridge), much lower temperatures than the ambient temperature normally experienced in Nicaragua. Once the coffee has been harvested, the cherries are placed into plastic bags and submerged in water. Sat in metal barrels, the bags get sealed tight using an airlock made from tubing that connects the bags to a plastic bottle filled with water. This apparatus means that air and gases can get out of the fermentation vessel but not in, causing anaerobic fermentation. Once fermentation is complete the coffee goes outside to be dried on raised beds as a Natural.
To understand what cold processing brings to coffee we can look at the equivalent in beer brewing. A lot of beers, e.g. traditional British ales or Saisons, are hot fermented; Lager is made using a cold ferment. Warmer fermentation works faster to break down sugars because your yeasts and bacteria can really go for it and metabolise very vigorously. However, this means that they can produce a lot of metabolites that aren’t broken down, leaving us with more boozy, harsh flavours. With a cold ferment, the process is usually slower but cleaner in terms of the flavours you create. The same is true in coffee, so by cooling things down you’re creating a cleaner flavour profile.
This particular coffee is actually pretty funky, but that’s because the Mierisches have kept the fermentation going for quite a long time in the anaerobic state. If you did this at a higher temperature then you’d end up with something very harsh and not clean, but because it’s cold you can push the time spent in the vessel. It’s very funk forward but it’s still smooth and crisp with great clarity of flavour thanks to the cold processing.
- Country: Nicaragua
- Community: Lipululo
- Departamento: Jinotega
- Farm: San Jose
- Varietal: Javanica
- Process: Cold Fermented Anaerobic Natural
- Owner: Mierisch Family
- Farm manager: Jorge Luis Mendez
- Coffee Area: 46 hectares
- Protected Rainforest: 3 hectares
- Elevation: 1,250-1,400 m.a.s.l