We have yellow coffee cherries!

Right in the middle of our debate about whether to plant the beans (which are actually seeds, not beans) from the mature coffee plants on the farm, our business manager in Nicaragua, Alex, sent us some photos of the other types of mature coffee on the farm: the plants that produce yellow coffee cherries! I had never seen yellow coffee cherries before.

Yellow (yes, these are RIPE) coffee cherries on one of our plants!

Alex said he was not sure of the variety, but a short Google search found me this:

The closest thing I could find to our yellow coffee cherries (from http://www.coffeeresearch.org/agriculture/varietals.htm).

The beans in the bottom photo are called Amarello, and they are a mutation on the Brazillian Bourbon bean. I was able to find quite a few sites selling "sweet yellow bourbon beans." So ... that might be what we have. We will probably have to send a sample somewhere to have it tested.

This, of course, complicates our decision about what seeds to start next. We will have about 1000lbs of coffee from the yellow cherries, so we could plant this year's crop of plants from the yellow beans. We just need to figure out which plant give us the highest quality coffee on our soil at our elevation.

How is Nicaraguan Coffee Different?

Nicaraguan coffee is a milder coffee than you may have tasted in the past. If you are used to drinking "brisk" or even slightly bitter American coffees (like Starbucks), then you might be pleasantly surprised by Nicaraguan coffee.

Ripe coffee beans. Caturra estrella.

Sweet Maria's is an excellent source of information on coffees, as well as home-roasting equipment and green beans (cafe oro). This is what Thompson "Tom" Owens has to say about Nicaraguan coffee:

"Good Nicaraguan coffees are considered "classic" cup: great body, clean flavor, and balance. They are unique among Centrals in the fact that the highest grown (SHG grade: Strictly High Grown) do not develop the pronounced and sharp acidity of other Centrals. The botanical cultivars utilized are traditional: Typic, some Bourbon and Maragogype dominate, along with Caturra and Paca."

One of the nurseries where we grow our coffee from certified seeds.

"..., Jinotega and Matagalpa coffees can demonstrate their remarkable versatility in a wide range of roasts, from light City roast through Full City and into the Vienna range."

Did I mention that our coffee farm is in Matagalpa? Did I mention that all the coffee on our farm is certified "Strictly High Grown" (SGH) because of the altitude of our farm?