Our newest coffee is a Cup of Excellence Winner from the Corrales Family Farms.  Byron the third-generation farm owner whose motto is “Behind every cup, there is a forest, a river to protect, a climate to conserve, many hands that work and a planet to save”, is beginning to turn over the farm production to the 4th generation.   His daughter, Sara, selected this coffee to enter the Cup of Excellence competition.

Sara has a master’s in Coffee Economic and Science, she is Q processing level two certified and oversees quality control and international sales for the Corrales Family Farms.  This is the second time she has entered and won the Cup of Excellence Award.  The coffee earned a score of 88.05 from the panel of 17 international judges.  To win the Cup of Excellence a coffee must receive a score of 87 or above.  Sara understands quality and knows how to care and select a winning coffee.

Anne from Amrita Certified Pure had the honor of being one of 17 International Judges on the jury selected the Nicaragua 2024 Cup of Excellence winners.  While this coffee achieved a winning score of 88.05, it placed in 14th place.  Anne’s  scores were 90.5 and Anne felt that this was the best coffee of the competition. After the competition, Anne met Sara and visited the Corrales Farms and Dry Mill.  At the Dry Mill,  Anne had an opportunity to cup ten coffees from the farm.  Without knowing which coffees were being presented in a blind cupping,  Anne chose the same coffee as the best coffee on the table.  Anne knew at auction time that Amrita Certified Pure needed to win this coffee.

The Corrales Family farms consist of six farms around Matagalpa, Nicaragua.  The focus is on quality and sustainability.  The focus on quality started in the early 1980s when Byron built the first coffee quality cupping lab in Nicaragua.    Each farm has its own purpose.

1. The Nursery and Wet Mill provide new coffee plants, shade plants and feed for cows.  All are processed without any chemicals.  The new coffee plants are for the farms and to sell to other farmers, the same is true with the shade plants.  This provides the family with additional income during non-income earning periods.  The plants grown for feeding the cows help ensure that only organic matter is in the soil where the coffee and shade trees are grown.  The waste from the wet mill is recycled in a compost pile with the cow manure, and the water is cleaned and recycled to water the plants in the nursery.
2. The second farm is an experimental farm.  At this farm different plant varieties are grown using different non-soil treatments and coffee produced on this farm goes through different post-harvesting processes to see what combinations produce the best quality coffee.  What is learned from this farm is applied to their two other farms.
3. Two farms are being transitioned into chemical free farms.
4. The last two farms are where most of the Corrales Family Farm Coffee is produced.  Our coffee comes from one of these farms, which is the Santa Cruz farm.

The family and farm values include sustainability practices or water conservation and reduction, resource management, and carbon capture.  They have 13 biodigesters and have planted 4,500 trees in the area.  They respect biodiversity by growing an assortment of plants on the farm and protecting the farm with shade and shade plants for the community. In addition, they have various educational projects including internships and university scholarships for people in the community along with youth sports team sponsorship. For all their work they have received national recognition for good agricultural practices, and they are a CQI training facility.