If you haven't tried a coffee from Nicaragua's Nueva Segovia region, here's what to expect: clean, balanced, sweet. Most Nicaraguan washed coffees lean on chocolate, nuts, soft apple-ish acidity, and a comfortable medium body.

Coffee drying at Cafetos de Segovia. Photo: Falcon Specialty.

Las Naranjas is a single-farm lot from Cafetos de Segovia. A 3.9-hectare farm in Mozonte, named for the orange trees that once covered it.

My green came from Falcon Micro (FSC-7848). Red Catuai, 1,250–1,500m, Jan 2025 harvest, 85 cup score. Washed process, dried slow on raised beds. Falcon's own cupping notes are butter toffee, orange soda, pear, cola, stone-fruit medley.

A quick tour of Las Naranjas coffees:

Proper Coffee Co. (UK) runs it as a medium roast described as ideal for espresso, filter, and milk-based brews, with tasting notes of juicy apricot, smooth chocolate, and sweet caramel. They're leaning into the fruit-and-caramel side of the bean. Norfolk Coffee Company (UK, sold out) keeps it simpler: notes of dark chocolate, fig and cherry. More dried-fruit-and-cocoa territory, less stone fruit. Footprint Coffee (UK) also pulls out cherry, apple sour sweets, fig, dark chocolate and hazelnut. The Blending Room (sold out) sums it up as rich and vibrant, combining juicy cherry sweetness, fig's dried fruit depth, and nutty hazelnut warmth.

So: dark chocolate, hazelnut, and a fruit layer, but split on whether the fruit reads as cherry/fig (dried, jammy) or apricot/pear (brighter, fresher). All seem to be roasting it medium.

My final roast was 7:10 total. Started gas and airflow at full then 87.5% on from -2 to -1 min (i.e. through the late dev phase up to the last minute) and dropped to 75% gas and air at -1 min before drop. FC started at around -1:20 min and was rolling at -1 min. Visually this is medium-light roast, if I had more of this coffee I would target lighter.

Beans were already on the older side. Close to 18 months since the harvest and the profile is still crude, definitely a work in progress.

That said, the cup was very pleasant. Good amount of sweetness, a bit of acidity, and those mellow fruit notes. For my taste it is more like peach than anything else, with maybe a hint of cherry.

For the next roast I want to dial in the maillard phase, especially the airflow.

#coffee #coffeeroasting #nicaragua

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I roasted the last of my 2025 Las Naranjas last week.

1,250–1,500 masl, Ana and Martha Albir's eight-hectare farm in Dipilto, Nueva Segovia, processed at the Cafetos de Segovia mill in Ocotal.

CAFETOS DE SEGOVIA is your partner in finding the best Specialty Coffees of the Cordillera de Dipilto and Jalapa, the coveted highlands of Nueva Segovia.

Coffee drying at Cafetos de Segovia. Photo: Falcon Specialty.

In the roaster it behaved pretty typically for a highland Nicaraguan. Overall it took heat well, with roast times on the average side.

I did three 100g batches: 7:00, 7:30, and 7:40 total roast times, with heat and airflow at max all the way to -1 min, finishing first crack at 75% for all three. Ambient temperature 15°C, dry day.

This lot is from Falcon Micro. Their notes promise butter toffee and orange soda brightness colliding with pear, cola, and a stone-fruit medley. 85 points.

Of the three roasts, the lightest was the most pleasant. It has good body and mid-range flavors, with a hint of toffee. Sweetness is good and gives a touch of those mild fruit and cherry notes.

The other two roasts were too far on the dark side, but no problems otherwise.

Based on these, my final roast for this lot is 7:10 total roast time, with extended Maillard heat, airflow at 87.5% until -2 min, and finishing at 75% from -1 min.

I'll let that one rest a few more days and brew it later this week.

#coffee #coffeeroasting #nicaragua

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