Nicaragua — Jinotega COMULFAC

Coffee Profile

Origin Details

The Origin Story

From Tailors to Coffee Pioneers

The roots of this coffee trace back to the 1980s with Juan de Dios Castillo and his wife, Miriam Arauz. Originally working as humble tailors in the town of Jinotega, the couple saved their earnings to buy a small plot of land, which they transformed into a coffee farm named Finca Paraíso. When they later returned to their tailoring business full-time, they divided the land into five distinct parcels — one for each of their five children — passing their hard-earned coffee legacy to the next generation.

Today COMULFAC spans family farms across the mountain communities of Datanli, Los Cipreces, Asturias, Monte Rey, Antioquia, and El Sacramento — estates ranging from tiny 4-acre plots to 100-acre family farms. By pooling resources into a single cooperative, these independent families have bypassed corporate middlemen and taken total control of their trade.

The Land

An Abundant, Untamed Jungle

Known locally as the “City of Mists,” Jinotega is the crown jewel of Nicaraguan coffee production. At 1,000 to 1,400 meters above sea level, a cool mountain climate and nutrient-dense clay soils force coffee cherries to mature slowly — allowing complex sugars to build within the seed for that deep hazelnut and molasses sweetness.

A COMULFAC farm — banana leaves, plantains, and fruit trees form a natural three-layer shade canopy that protects coffee plants, preserves soil, and feeds the farming family year-round.

A walk through a COMULFAC farm feels less like a corporate plantation and more like an abundant, untamed jungle. Families intercrop their coffee trees with plantains, bananas, corn, oranges, and beans — a deeply rooted cultural tradition of mixed subsistence farming that sustains the family between annual coffee harvests.

The Harvest

A Community Festival

Grandparents, parents, and children harvest side-by-side — the hillsides echo with music and generational storytelling.

Communal Labor

“Neighboring families band together — spending one week picking all the ripe cherries on one family’s land, then moving together to the next neighbor’s farm. Back-breaking work transformed into a lively social celebration.”

After harvest, every family processes their own cherries on their own land. Only perfectly ripe, deep-red cherries are hand-selected. The seeds are depulped, fermented, and fully washed with fresh mountain water, then spread across open-air patios to dry naturally under the Central American sun — turned slowly by hand and sorted multiple times to achieve EP grade.

The Varietals

A Botanical Tapestry of Resilience

The COMULFAC flavor profile is an intentional liquid mosaic of five distinct varieties — balancing ancestral heritage with modern survival.

Maragogype — The Elephant Bean

A rare botanical mutation affectionately known as the “elephant bean” for its massive physical size. Maragogype brings a uniquely heavy, smooth texture and deep molasses-like sweetness — the secret behind that rich, lingering finish.

The rare Maragogype “elephant bean” — noticeably larger than standard coffee cherries, delivering that signature deep molasses sweetness.