DIRECT TRADE COFFEE

NICARAGUA JALAPA CERRO DE JESUS

What is Direct Trade?

One of the core missions of the specialty coffee community is to promote Direct-trade sourcing of green coffee. Direct Trade is a grassroots model of coffee purchasing, integrating personal connections between the roasters and the coffee producers or cooperatives. This model promotes more transparency within the supply chain and allows better pay for coffee producers while also building a foundation for long-term friendships between buyers and producers. At Northshore Specialty Coffee, one of our biggest priorities is to build direct trade relationships with each of our producers and to foster these partnerships for years to come. Even though we’re a small company and it might take some time to build these types of relationships with every one of our producers, it’s important to us to start small and to build on a foundation of connection.

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A TRIP TO CERRO DE JESUS

When the Northshore team embarked on our first trip to origin in February 2024, we knew we wanted to take a real step towards our mission to establish direct trade partnerships. What we didn’t expect was that our trip became so much more than that as we encountered the friendly people and natural beauty of Nicaragua.

We travelled from the bustle of Managua to the hillsides of Matagalpa, the tobacco fields of Esteli, and finally to the mountains of Jalapa on the northern border. Along our journey we found nothing but smiling faces, lush scenery, and bold, delicious coffee. It was in Jalapa that we were first introduced to the gorgeous Finca Cerro De Jesus.

Finca Cerro De Jesus rests upon the slopes of the 2nd highest peak in Nicaragua, right on the shared border of their neighbor, Honduras. The farm itself occupies a total area of 281 hectares, with 126 hectares in coffee and the rest in wild forest, all fed by a natural spring originating on the mountain. Finca Cerro De Jesus provides schooling and meals for the children of the 300 workers who live on the farm during the harvest season. Since a revitalization in 2018, Cerro de Jesus has placed consistently in Nicaragua’s Cup of Excellence competition, including a first place win in 2021. After such a wonderful visit in February, we knew that Finca Cerro De Jesus was the perfect choice for our first direct-trade relationship.

We are so proud to introduce Nicaragua Jalapa Cerro De Jesus, our first direct trade partnership with our friends there. We were honored to have the opportunity to taste this delicious Pacamara during our stay at the farm, and overjoyed to share that this offering was also awarded 8th Place in the 2024’s Cup of Excellence competition for all of Nicaragua. The coffee itself boasts impressive size, typical to the Pacamara variety of coffee, and contains delicate flavors with notes of raw sugar crystals, tart grapefruit, and a pleasant splash of lemon.