Nicaraguan coffee in the USA

[CPrice830]

Hello everyone,

I have been reading many threads and am happy I found this forum. I am Nicaraguan and I love our coffee. Lately I've seen some but not much Nicaraguan coffee being sold in local supermarkets. When they do, they don't stay there long. My cousin and I would like to build on that interest and increase Nicaraguan coffee consumption in the northeast USA by reselling and distributing Nicaraguan coffee beans from all the main regions. Mainly to local coffeehouses and businesses. Unfortunately we are not roasters. I mean, I could be but we know nothing about roasting (I am open to learning). We are barely in our thinking and researching phase and could use any and all information you think would be helpful.

Please be kind, we are new to this but we are coffee lovers nonetheless and are very eager to learn more.

Best,

CP

 

[ensoluna]

hello CP, welcome to our forum.
may I ask you some questions in order to understand more about your coffee?
1. are you a green bean importer? since you are not a roaster but you would like to distribute, I am assuming you are a importer of green beans.

2. I have tried so many different kind of coffees all over the world, but honestly to say, never "Nicaraguan" coffee.
can you tell us what kind (varietals) of coffee you have and whether they are SHB commercial beans or Specialty beans or Micro lots?

3. Do you have a coffee farm in Nicaragua?

4. As I know, specialty beans from Ometepe Island is something special. Would you be able to also distribute this beans from that island?
Some time ago, some Nicaragua coffee exporter offered me $7 per pound (green bean) FOB Ometepe Island and I could not do much due to its high pricing. I wonder whether that coffee is that special or not. can you comment?

thanks and hope to hear from you with more details.
Alex from Ensoluna S.A.
PS: I am also in Coffee business (exporting from Guatemala), so if you have any other questions, please let me know. thanks

 

[peterjschmidt]

I've roasted lots of very good Nicaraguan coffee over the years, but haven't seen any for the last year and a half.

If you're thinking of roasting in Nicaragua, and then mailing it here, that would be a deal-breaker for the serious coffee person as it would getting toward the end of its shelf life in freshness before it go to the customer. I feel you'd be better off developing relationships with importers/brokers and/or roasters who would roast it in the states closer to the end user.