October Coffee
EL DIABLO, NICARAGUA
The Cerro Datanlí - El Diablo Nature Reserve is a high massif rising between Matagalpa and Jinotega, part of Nicaragua’s Isabelia mountain range. It is a magical landscape, where birds and butterflies move through lush cloud forest and coffee trees cling to impossibly steep, shaded mountainsides.
Datanlí is an indigenous word meaning “where water falls”, a fitting name for one of Jinotega’s richest and most diverse ecosystems. Water sources originate high in the mountains before flowing down through the reserve to the coffee farms below. Combined with favourable climatic conditions, fertile land and generations of agricultural knowledge, this abundant water helps create exceptional conditions for specialty coffee production.
Coffee is the primary source of income for the farmers of the El Diablo community, many of whom manage medium-sized farms alongside crops grown for their own consumption. Catuai and Caturra remain the principal coffee varieties, while producers are increasingly planting Pacamara and hybrid varieties such as Catimor to bring greater diversity to their farms.
The region has gradually shifted from large-scale commercial coffee towards specialty production, building on agricultural systems already well adapted to its particular landscape and climate. Today, producers combine careful processing with environmentally conscious practices, including wastewater treatment, using coffee pulp as fertiliser and planting living barriers and windbreaks around their farms.
The result is a distinctive expression of this remarkable landscape, with notes of chocolate and red fruit, a medium body and bright malic acidity.