NICARAGUAN BLACK BULL RESERVA COFFEE

Hacienda Sajonia produces very high-quality coffee generally but in our search for coffee perfection, we like to go one step further. To this end, the estate produces a small amount of their absolute best beans called Sajonia Reserva Familia. We think it yields one of the best darkly roasted coffees in the world. Darkly roasted coffees tend to trade the nuances of aroma for the big, bold character and the bittersweet, syrupy cup demanded by those who love very intense coffee. The Reserva offers something more though, with tones of rich, milk chocolate, hazelnut, caramel, Brazil nut, orange zest and molasses. Hacienda Sajonia is located in the beautiful El Diablo nature reserve high up in the relatively cool, cloud forest-clad mountains between Matagalpa and Jinotega in northern Nicaragua, placing it right in the middle of Nicaragua's premier coffee growing region. The estate covers an area of 1,000 acres, of which over half is primaeval rainforest, home to an incredible array of flora and fauna. High-quality coffee was already grown in the productive area, the farm is able to trace its roots back to 1899, but lack of infrastructure investment and the use of old-fashioned farming methods had left the farm in need of much renovation. In 2010 two English brothers, Tom and Matthew Hills bought the farm and embarked on a long-term plan to enhance the quality of the coffee by adopting modern agronomic practices. Furthermore, they aimed to improve social and environmental conditions by modernising infrastructure. The farm is set at an altitude ranging from 1,280 metres to 1,580 metres at its peak, which puts it among the more elevated coffee farms in Nicaragua. The specific climate of the location is perfectly suited to producing speciality coffee beans. The worker camp has been refurbished including the installation of transparent plastic roof lights, to allow natural light into the rooms, and the provision of new latrine blocks. The school has been refurbished including roof repairs and a new concrete flooring and a children's play area has been built. A teacher lives on the farm to ensure the children of all workers have access to education. A partnership has been formalized with a local medical centre, Centro Medico Bautista La Esmeralda to ensure workers can have regular medical check-ups and that medical care is available nearby, rather than just in the city, in the event of an emergency on the farm. Protective clothing has been acquired for staff handling chemicals. In the main kitchen, obsolete cooking stoves have been replaced, the chimney repaired and coffee husks have substituted firewood as the main fuel all to reduce smoke levels in the cooking areas. An area of land has been made available to workers to grow their own vegetables to encourage a healthy diet.