Legacy Series, Nicaragua - Limoncillo
ORIGINALLY RELEASED
November 2021
HIGHLIGHTS
Legacy Series: Spotlights family-owned farms
Origin: Nicaragua, Limoncillo (part of Fincas Mierisch) in Matagalpa
Certified UTZ (now part of Rainforest Alliance)
Available Light, Medium, or Dark
WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT
This is another fun Nicaraguan I’m featuring in 3 different roasts - light, medium, and dark. Expect classic Central American coffee flavors (nutty and chocolatey) with a sweet sugar cookie finish. Limoncillo (the name of the farm), is known for producing award-winning coffee that often has hints of chocolate AND red fruits like strawberry and cherry. If you’re interested in exploring the subtleties of which red fruit this may resemble, grab a light roast! But if your ears perked up at the thought of “nutty sugar cookie” then definitely go medium. Dark roasts will be less sweet in the finish, but pack bolder dark chocolate flavors.
ORIGIN STORY
Our LEGACY SERIES highlights coffees produced in family-owned farms. This coffee is from Limoncillo of Fincas Mierisch. Fincas Mierisch is a family-owned group of farms that’s been in business since the early 1900’s. The family purchased Limoncillo in 1930 in Matagalpa, a region not only known in Nicaragua for coffee production, but also for being a German immigration settlement in the 1800’s. Bruno Mierisch, the founder of Fincas Mierisch, immigrated to Nicaragua to help build the national railroad. (Legend has it that Bruno was actually the FIRST German immigrant to arrive in Nicaragua!) However, when the Nicaraguan government didn’t have the money to pay Bruno for his work, they compensated him in the land that would ultimately become the Mierisch family’s first coffee farm, Las Lajas.
Limoncillo, the family’s second oldest farm, is UTZ certified (a program that’s now part of the Rainforest Alliance). Broadly, this means Limoncillo is committed not only to producing great coffee, but also doing so in a way that prioritizes people and protects the planet. Limoncillo is home not only to the coffee plants these beans came from, but also a child care facility, primary school, and health clinic -- all open to its farmers, farmers’ families, and members of the community at-large. The farm also produces its own renewable energy through hydro powered turbines. Out of all of the Mierisch farms, Limoncillo also has the largest area designated to conservation, with 76 manzanas (53 hectares) of protected land.
Today, Fincas Mierisch has 9 coffee farms in Nicaragua and 3 in Honduras and is now into its 5th generation of Mierisch family operators! After the Nicaraguan Civil War of the 1980’s subsided, Dr. Erwin R. Mierisch (3rd generation, Bruno’s grandson) and his wife Maria Ligia McEwan de Mierisch, plus their children Erwin Jr, Eleane and Steve (Bruno’s great grandchildren), started carrying on the family legacy. Under their leadership, the group’s operations began to shift from commercial quality coffee into the new world of Specialty Coffee. Today, Dr. Mierisch heads all agronomical decisions for the farms and Eleane Mierisch leads as General Director. Erwin III (5th generation) works in the QC lab and handles client relations.
MORE ABOUT THE LEGACY SERIES
Our Legacy Series shines a light on coffee from family-owned farms. Beans featured in this series come from family farms that have been passed down for generations, and others that may just be getting started. With each roast, we feature one farm/one family at a time, giving each the spotlight they deserve. Growing coffee takes tremendous skill, physical strength, mental fortitude, and just the right amount of luck. Layer on top of that: high production costs and volatile market prices, thin (or negative) margins in a global supply chain that has traditionally never prioritized its growers, and the pressure of providing for your family. The Legacy Series is about passion, hard work, resilience, and grit. True legacies aren’t born, they’re cultivated.
