OUR OFFERINGS - LOS DELIRIOS, ORGANIC NICARAGUA

Location:  Pueblo Nuevo (Esteli)
Altitude: 1,350 - 1,450 m
Varietal:  Caturra
Harvest:  January - April

Characteristics

Flavor: Caramel, almond, honey
Acidity: Soft, inviting
Finish: Creamy, fudge

Tasting notes

Los Delirios ardently welcomes you with its buoyant acidity and creamy mouthfeel.  Hints of honey dot across the palate as caramel and almond persist throughout.  As the cup blossoms, snippets of fruit surface adding complexity to its clean body.  Melted milk chocolate and fudge emerge in the finish lending to an overall impression of remarkable approachability and poise.

Geoff Watts’ Notes

Sr. Canales with his family posing on one of the drying patios at Los Delirios.

This May I spent some time with some of the Canales family (Daniel, Milton, and Donald) in the Nicaraguan town of Jinotega. We watched the Cup of Excellence competition results and talked about some of the changes they’ve made to their wet mill this season, including the installation of ceramic tile in the washing channels that allow for easier cleaning. It was a good feeling to be together there since Cup of Excellence is what brought us together in the first place, several years ago.

Los Delirios comes with quite a pedigree, hard-earned through a particular focus on details at the farm and a visible dedication to continuous improvement of the farm infrastructure. Our first experience with this farm was in 2004 when it took first place in the Cup of Excellence competition, making history by becoming the first certified organic coffee to win a CoE event. It was a victory for organic coffees worldwide as there has long been a misconception within the industry that organic coffees are not quite of the same caliber as traditionally grown beans when it comes to cup quality. I had the fortune of being on the jury for that competition and remember well the excitement in the room when Los Delirios was announced as the top prize winner. It was completely electric, just like the coffee itself.

In the auction that followed we were able to take home the coffee with a winning bid of $12.50 per pound, setting a new record for Nicaragua in the process. Since that time, Las Termopilas (run by Daniel’s oldest son Milton Canales) has garnered two additional CoE awards: 4th place in 2007 and 12th place in 2005.

In January of 2005 I traveled to Esteli to meet with Sr. Daniel Canales and talk with him about securing Los Delirios coffee from future crops. It was a memorable visit; the farm itself is gorgeous and diverse and the entire family was there to welcome us. In addition to coffee the farm is home to a variety of animals, fruit trees, and even a small pond in which the family raises tilapia for their own consumption. The pride with which Sr. Canales approaches his work is tangible and evidence of his concern for quality is apparent throughout the farm.

When I visited his home in Pueblo Nuevo, I was astonished to see that he was hand-sorting parchment (still un-hulled beans) coffee on small tables in his garage. This kind of meticulous handling is rare in Nicaragua but essential to producing world-class coffees. Behind the family’s home is a large cement patio where the coffee is dried, and the proximity allows them to keep a watchful eye on the coffee at all times to ensure that the drying is carried out perfectly. It is truly a family operation, with everyone helping out in some way to make it all work.

In addition to the coffees from Los Delirios, we also purchase coffee from the El Eden group whose members include three of Sr. Canales’s sons: Norman, Donald, and Milton. Each of the three manages his own small farm adjacent to Los Delirios. These farms were originally part of Los Delirios but were recently given their own names, and what we sell as Los Delirios is actually a combination of the best tasting coffees from the whole family and some close neighbors with whom they collaborate in El Eden. This year’s version is made up of coffees from La Florida (Sr. Benedicto Gonzales, member of the El Eden cooperative) and Las Termopilas (Milton Canales). The coffee is milled nearby by Prodecoop, one of the first coffee cooperatives in Nicaragua to really establish a quality reputation in the Specialty market. Their operation is gorgeous, and their success has made them a model for other cooperatives to follow.

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